The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published 2011 guidelines for field triage of injured patients, designed to help healthcare providers make decisions about the most appropriate destination for injured patients and improve their health outcomes.
The CDC convened a panel to establish these guidelines, which are based on expert opinion, medical literature and feed back from multiple states and communities. The panel outlines four steps to help healthcare providers reach a conclusion on field triage: physiologic criteria, anatomic criteria, mechanism of injury and special considerations.
"Improved field triage of injured patients can have a profound impact on the structure, organization, and use of EMS and trauma systems, the costs associated with trauma care, and most importantly, on the lives of the millions of persons injured every year in the United States," the report said. "As is noted throughout this report, improved research is needed to assess the impact of field triage on resource allocation, healthcare financing and funding and, most importantly, patient outcomes."
The CDC convened a panel to establish these guidelines, which are based on expert opinion, medical literature and feed back from multiple states and communities. The panel outlines four steps to help healthcare providers reach a conclusion on field triage: physiologic criteria, anatomic criteria, mechanism of injury and special considerations.
"Improved field triage of injured patients can have a profound impact on the structure, organization, and use of EMS and trauma systems, the costs associated with trauma care, and most importantly, on the lives of the millions of persons injured every year in the United States," the report said. "As is noted throughout this report, improved research is needed to assess the impact of field triage on resource allocation, healthcare financing and funding and, most importantly, patient outcomes."
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