Citation

Wong DJ, Bedford JR, Luck S, Bloomer R. Air Med. J. 2017; 36(1): 34-36.

Affiliation

Anaesthetics department at King's College Hospital, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation, London, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.amj.2016.11.007

PMID

28089060

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Two of the 4 hospitals designated as major trauma centers in London, UK, currently operate on-site helicopter landing pads. King's College Hospital (KCH) is constructing a third. We evaluate current trauma services at King's College Hospital, before the helipad entering service, establishing baseline workload and mortality measures.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients admitted January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015, to KCH after major trauma with on-scene helicopter emergency medical services involvement (N = 427) using the Trauma Audit and Research Network database.

RESULTS: The median Injury Severity Score of the cohort was 22 (interquartile range [IQR], 13-30). The median length of stay was 11 days (IQR, 5-24). Fifty-seven percent of the patients received intensive care unit (ICU) admission, with a median ICU length of stay (LOS) of 5 days (IQR, 2-12) in this subgroup. There was no significant difference in Injury Severity Score, LOS, or ICU LOS between 2014 and 2015. One hundred ninety-three patients (45.2%) underwent ≥ 1 operation, accounting for 1,276.5 hours of operating room time in total. Cox proportional hazards regression showed no difference in survival outcomes between 2014 and 2015.

CONCLUSION: Baseline workload and mortality measures were obtained, forming the basis of future service evaluation to assess the impact of helipad construction.

Copyright © 2016 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en