Do Outcome Measures for Trauma Triage Agree

Objective. The goal of trauma triage is to match resources to the needs of seriously injured patients. The trauma triage literature has used a variety of outcome measures to assess appropriate trauma activation. The objective of this study was to determine the agreement between procedural andnonprocedural outcome measures in a population of seriously injured patients transported to a single trauma center. Methods. Study authors reviewed all “level 2” trauma activations (January 2002–December 2003) at an American College of Surgeons (ACS) Level 1 trauma center. “Level 2” trauma activations were based on modified ACS Committee on Trauma (COT) triage criteria. Outcomes were classified as nonprocedural (Injury Severity Score [ISS] > 15 andintensive care unit [ICU] admission) andprocedural (nonorthopedic emergent surgery, emergency chest tube placement, emergency department intubation, emergency department transfusion, or emergent interventional radiology care). Results. Of 479 patients, five were transferred ...