Emergency Medicine: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2165-7548
ISSN: 2165-7548
Joseph J Tepas
Tanzania
Research Article
Explaining the Difference in the Triage Rate of the Elderly: Are they
Undertriaged or Not?
Author(s): Etienne E Pracht, Barbara Langland-Orban, David Ciesla, Joseph J Tepas and Lewis FlintEtienne E Pracht, Barbara Langland-Orban, David Ciesla, Joseph J Tepas and Lewis Flint
In Florida, the percent of injured elderly trauma patients with ICISS < 0.85 who were transported to a designated trauma center (DTC) was only 47.9 in 2013, which was about half the triage rate of non-elderly adults. This present analysis used Florida hospital discharge data to examine the difference in these triage rates by analyzing injury type, severity, and mechanism, distance to a DTC, and severity of comorbidities. Falls were the largest mechanism of injury among severely injured elderly (72.9 percent) yet had the lowest triage rate to DTCs (33.0 percent) among injury mechanism categories. In contrast, motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) were the most frequent for non-elderly adults (54.9 percent), which were associated with relatively high triage rates for both severely injured non-elderly and elderly (88.4 and 70.9, respectively). The severity of comorbid conditions may explain .. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2165-7548.1000212