Military assistance to safety and traffic services in El Paso: A retrospective analysis

This study was performed to evaluate the performance of military rotary air medical transport in the El Paso, Texas, region with regard to mortality. A retrospective review of transport and inpatient medical records was under taken. All trauma patients air transported from January 1, 1996, to Februar y 28, 1998, were included. Patients for whom records were unavailable were excluded. Mean time intervals for prehospital and interhospital transport w ere calculated. Injury severity and survival data were calculated using Rev ised Trauma Score, Injury Severity Score, and Trauma and Injury Severity Sc ore (TRISS) methodology. Two hundred sixty-seven patients were eligible for analysis (83% of the total). TRISS analysis predicted 241 survivors; the a ctual number of survivors was 241 (mean = 0.98, z = 0.03) despite the fact that 6 individuals died who were predicted to live and 3 individuals lived who were predicted to die. We conclude that the actual mortality rate of th ose patients transported by military aeromedical lift equaled that predicte d by TRISS methodology.