Injury Severity Scores and Quality Assurance of Traumatic Care

Lee,  Jae Baek; Jin,  Young Ho

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 8(3); 1997 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 1997;8(3): 390-397.

Injury Severity Scores and Quality Assurance of Traumatic Care

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Trauma is a major cause of death for individuals under the age of 45 years and the third leading cause of death for all ages. So, it has been recognized as an important socioeconomic problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of surgical care of traumatized parients.
METHODS:
We retrospectively analyzed data of patients who had undergone surgical operation on head, abdomen, or chest trauma from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1995. TRISS method and W- and Z- statistics were used to evaluate the trauma outcome and the quality assurance of surgical treatment.
RESULTS:
Two hundred and sixty eight patients were enrolled in this study. Traffic accident in injury mechanisms was the most common(n=185, 69.2%), and severely injured patients with over ISS 16 were 205 of total 268 patients(76.5%). Crude mortality rate was 11.6% (non-survivors/number of patients : 31/268). By TRISS method, predicted mortality rate was 10.1%, excess mortality rate was 14.2%, and W value was - 1.43 indicating less actual survivors than predicted, but absolute Z score was 0.91 and it was statistically not significant.
CONCLUSION:
These data show that trauma outcome and quality of surgical care in our hospital is adequate. We also suggest that it will provide a valuable data for further studies.