ON-SCENE TIMES FOR TRAUMA PATIENTS IN WEST YORKSHIRE

Objectives-To assess whether length of time on-scene in patients with major injury was associated with severity of injury or with abnormal o n-scene physiology. Methods-A retrospective analysis of a convenience sample of patients in whom prehospital on-scene times were entered ont o the regional major trauma database. On-scene times of patients were analysed to assess whether ultimate injury severity score or on-scene physiology measurements affected times. This was undertaken by examini ng subgroups of patients with similar injury severity or physiological measurements by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney testing and comparing 95% confi dence intervals of the mean on-scene times. Results-The mean on-scene time for 111 non-entrapped patients was 26 minutes (95% confidence int erval 23.5 to 28.6). Patients with injury severity score of > 15, with a Glasgow coma scale of < 13, and with an abnormal pulse spent signif icantly less time on-scene than less severely injured or physiological ly deranged patients. Conclusions-Paramedics have the ability to recog nise patients with severe injury and reduce on-scene times. On-scene t imes were consistently long throughout all subgroups of major trauma p atients.