Is mechanism of injury dead?

Abstract

Mechanism-of-injury data are frequently unavailable to the emergency physician. Furthermore, their value as a triage tool has recently been challenged. Motor vehicle crash patients have fewer external signs of injury, and commonly “look fine and feel fine” because of improvements in vehicle design, increased use of restraints, and airbag deployments. Yet forces involved in the crash may overcome all efforts at protecting the occupant, resulting in occult life-threatening injuries. Without data about the crash, physicians are blinded to violent crash forces that are ultimately transferred to the patient. Information technologies, such as on-scene photography by EMTs, automated collision notification systems, and telemedicine applications, may be used to deliver realtime crash information to aid the emergency physician in caring for these patients. Beyond improving patient care for any given encounter in emergency practice, collecting and evaluating these data will expand our knowledge about how to care for future motor vehicle crash patients.

Key Words:

• motor vehicles
• triage
• wounds and injuries
• accidents
• traffic
• mechanism of injury.