Evaluation of safety of trauma patients during transport

BACKGROUND: Transport of patients is sometimes necessary and unavoidable. However, there are many risks related to it. For this reason, safety of intra-hospital transport has been thoroughly studied in critical care patients; however there is no literature on adverse events during transport of trauma patients. Due to the acute nature of injury, trauma patients are fundamentally different than other populations of patients and require special consideration during transport. Lack of data makes initiating new protocols for transport conditions difficult. METHODS/RESULTS: Data from all activated trauma response patients who required transport to and from the CT scanner from the period of January 01, 2010 to December 31st, 2013 (total of 1103 patients) were collected. From these patients, 17 adverse events were identified (2.0% excluding missing documentation). Vomiting was the most common adverse event followed by peripheral IV line dislodgment. There were no cardiac arrests or deaths resulting from transport related events. CONCLUSION: Defining adverse events is a key part of evaluating safety during transport. Fluctuations in vital signs and other objective measures may reflect patient disease rather than transport. Our study provides clear definitions of what an adverse event is using outcomes and objectively identifies measures necessary for safe transport as well as areas of improvement