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Introduction: Severe thoracic injuries are time sensitive and adequate triage to a facility with a high-level of trauma care is crucial. The emergency medical services (EMS) providers are required to identify patients with a severe thoracic injury to transport the patient to the right hospital. However, identifying these patients on-scene is difficult. The accuracy of prehospital assessment of potential thoracic injury by EMS providers of the ground ambulances is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the assessment of the EMS provider in the identification of a thoracic injury and determine predictors of a severe thoracic injury., Methods: In this multicentre cohort study, all trauma patients aged 16 and over, transported with a ground erence standard. Prehospital variables were analysed using logistic regression to explore prehospital ambulance to a trauma centre, were evaluated. The diagnostic value of EMS provider judgment was determined using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) of ≥ 1 in the thoracic region as ref predictors of a severe thoracic injury (AIS ≥ 3)., Results: In total 2766 patients were included, of whom 465 (16.8%) sustained a thoracic injury and 210 (7.6%) a severe thoracic injury. The EMS providers' judgment had a sensitivity of 54.8% and a specificity of 92.6% for the identification of a thoracic injury. Significant independent prehospital predictors were: age, oxygen saturation, Glasgow Coma Scale, fall > 2 m, and suspicion of inhalation trauma or a thoracic injury by the EMS provider., Conclusion: EMS providers could identify little over half of the patients with a thoracic injury. A supplementary triage protocol to identify patients with a thoracic injury could improve prehospital triage of these patients. In this supplementary protocol, age, vital signs, and mechanism criteria could be included., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emergency medical services (EMS) providers must determine the injury severity on-scene, using a prehospital trauma triage protocol, and decide on the most appropriate hospital destination for the patient. Many severely injured patients are not transported to higher-level trauma centres. An accurate triage protocol is the base of prehospital trauma triage; however, ultimately the quality is dependent on the destination decision by the EMS provider. The aim of this systematic review is to describe compliance to triage protocols and evaluate compliance to the different categories of triage protocols., Methods: An extensive search of MEDLINE/Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL and Cochrane library was performed to identify all studies, published before May 2018, describing compliance to triage protocols in a trauma system. The search terms were a combination of synonyms for 'compliance,' 'trauma,' and 'triage'., Results: After selection, 11 articles were included. The studies showed a variety in compliance rates, ranging from 21% to 93% for triage protocols, and 41% to 94% for the different categories. The compliance rate was highest for the criterion: penetrating injury. The category of the protocol with the lowest compliance rate was: vital signs. Compliance rates were lower for elderly patients, compared to adults under the age of 55. The methodological quality of most studies was poor. One study with good methodological quality showed that the triage protocol identified only a minority of severely injured patients, but many of whom were transported to higher-level trauma centres., Conclusions: The compliance rate ranged from 21% to 94%. Prehospital trauma triage effectiveness could be increased with an accurate triage protocol and improved compliance rates. EMS provider judgment could lower the undertriage rate, especially for severely injured patients meeting none of the criteria. Future research should focus on the improvement of triage protocols and the compliance rate., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: In an optimal trauma system, prehospital trauma triage ensures transport of the right patient to the right hospital. Incorrect triage results in undertriage and overtriage. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate and compare prehospital trauma triage system quality worldwide and determine effectiveness in terms of undertriage and overtriage for trauma patients., Methods: A systematic search of Pubmed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was performed, using "trauma", "trauma center," or "trauma system", combined with "triage", "undertriage," or "overtriage", as search terms. All studies describing ground transport and actual destination hospital of patients with and without severe injuries, using prehospital triage, published before November 2017, were eligible for inclusion. To assess the quality of these studies, a critical appraisal tool was developed., Results: A total of 33 articles were included. The percentage of undertriage ranged from 1% to 68%; overtriage from 5% to 99%. Older age and increased geographical distance were associated with undertriage. Mortality was lower for severely injured patients transferred to a higher-level trauma center. The majority of the included studies were of poor methodological quality. The studies of good quality showed poor performance of the triage protocol, but additional value of EMS provider judgment in the identification of severely injured patients., Conclusion: In most of the evaluated trauma systems, a substantial part of the severely injured patients is not transported to the appropriate level trauma center. Future research should come up with new innovative ways to improve the quality of prehospital triage in trauma patients., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)