ON-SCENE MEDICAL DECISION-MAKING AND OVERTRIAGE

This study examined whether a hospital-based helicopter trauma service led to 'overtriage' of patients back to the multispecialty base hospi tal. All accident-site triage decisions made during 1991 were studied. Seven of the 574 decisions (1.2 per cent) led to inappropriate moveme nt of the patient to a specialist centre. Twenty-six decisions (4.5 pe r cent) were based on mechanism of injury alone and the possibility of overtriage by this method is discussed. A trained doctor can select t he correct destination for a patient with trauma without inappropriate ly using the base hospital in preference to local centres.