By Leila Merrill
CHICAGO — The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma published the revised National Guideline for the Field Triage of Injured Patients this week.
Because unintentional injury is a leading cause of death in the U.S. and the most common reason for calling 911, field triage can greatly affect outcomes.
Here are three key points about the latest guideline.
- The guideline emphasized that getting injured patients to the right level trauma center can improve patient outcomes and reflects how assessments occur in the field to make more accurate judgments about the level of care an injured patient may need
- Rather than the previous step-wise algorithmic format determined to be overly complex for use in the field, the new guideline was redesigned to reflect the flow of information to EMS clinicians and actual use in the field
- Direct feedback from EMS clinicians was incorporated
“EMS clinicians play a vital role in our communities as they respond to difficult, life-threatening emergencies. For more than 50 years, the U.S. Department of Transportation and NHTSA have supported EMS systems and first responders in their important mission,” said Steven Cliff, PhD, NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator. “The Field Trauma Triage Guidelines are an important resource for EMS clinicians, helping them save lives and provide critical care for traumatic injuries. We appreciate the American College of Surgeons’ leadership on this essential publication.”
An expert panel led by the American College of Surgeons, with support from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, began revising the 2011 guideline more than a year ago.
The revised guideline, plus related training materials and performance measures are at www.facs.org/fieldtraigeguidelines.
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