Trauma 1 - What exactly does it mean?

[bneilson]

What exactly is a Trauma 1?

Earlier today on the head on collision on U111, I copied Oquirrh Command requesting that Dispatch check with IHC to see if they could take another "Trauma 1". Dispatch checked and responded that they could not. Oquirrh Command then requested that Dispatch advise the U that they would be getting another "Trauma 1". Shortly after that I copied one of the Medic Ambulance's going en-route to the U.

We are all familiar with the 10-85 A-E but I cant recall hearing "Trauma 1" before. Does anybody know what this is and if there are different levels? It sounds bad but they did a ground transport so that confused me a bit...

 

[Observer1]

Trauma 1 is the highest level of Trauma and only certain hospitals are certified as "Level 1 Trauma Centers"

In Utah, and large portions of surrounding states, IMC and University are the only Level 1 Trauma Centers...thus the large helicopter and plane fleet.

One thing you need to remember, people are categorized by EMT/Paramedic personnel not only on their visible injuries and symptoms, but also method of injury.

A person may look fine, may feel fine, but be transported to a Level 1 Trauma center because of the method of injury. That does not always require a helicopter (There actually is a guideline for when helicopters are used, check out this website for details University Health Care AirMed Criteria for Air Medical Transport) Of course weather etc also plays a role.

Now, IMC and the U are routinely on what is known as "Trauma Divert", which happens when they already have too many Trauma patients or their ICU's are too full.

 

[gregfab]

I have looked up a few sites related to patient triage, and I have seen similar criteria in classifying field trauma levels. Here is one site to review:

http://www.chescoems.org/PDF/Trauma Triage.pdf

or this:

http://www.aspirus.org/media/pdf/NatlTraumaTriageProtocol.pdf

Hope that helps!

 

[gldavis]

While on the subject of trauma, I've a couple of questions. Does Utah practice/use the Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (S.T.A.R.T.) program? And if so, which "Tags" (MT-137) are most common?

 

[ww7y]

We do indeed use the guidelines on the UofU site. As stated, if outward injuries aren't apparant on the personal exam, we consider MOI (mechanism of injury). This determines weather the patients injuries or MOI call for transport to a Level 1 Trauma Center by ground or air. The goal is to have the patient to a Level 1 Center in 1 hour from time of occurance....the Golden Hour.

Primary Childrens and McKay in Ogden are also Level 1 Trauma facilities along with IMC and UMC. If they have all their resources tied up on other Trauma 1 patients, we will divert to another Trauma 1 facility.

We have been trained in and do use START, but only on MC I(mass casuality incidents).

Steve - WW7Y

 

[N7YUO]

Acronyms and abbreviations

Wow, this thread has a lot of jargon I have not heard before.
In the Utah Wiki, we have the Glossary of terms and abbreviations. I created it long ago for my own use, and then I chose to share it. We need to amend it and add these:
Trauma 1 is the highest level of Trauma
Trauma Divert
MOI mechanism of injury
MC I mass casuality incidents
S.T.A.R.T. Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment