Major Trauma Audit National Report 2016 Key Findings

Key Findings
The median age of patients sustaining major trauma was 59 years. In the younger age categories, males were the predominant gender and in the older age bands, females were the predominant gender.
Twenty-eight per cent of patients had to be transferred to another hospital for ongoing care as their care needs could not be provided by the initial receiving hospital.
The mechanism of injury varies by age band, with road trauma and blows dominating the younger age bands and ‘low falls’ dominating the older age bands.
Advanced age correlates with higher numbers of comorbidities, making the clinical management of older major trauma patients more complex and difficult, and requiring a multidisciplinary approach.
Forty-seven per cent of major trauma occurred at home; 39% occurred in a public area and road.
Only 8% of patients were received by a trauma team on arrival to hospital.
Older patients were less likely to be pre-alerted and reviewed by a senior clinician.
Older patients are more likely to die and suffer higher levels of disability than younger major trauma patients with a similar injury severity score (ISS).
Only 62% of major trauma patients were discharged directly home. Older patients are less likely to be discharged home and more likely to be discharged to rehabilitation or long-term care compared to younger patients.
Four per cent of major trauma patients died in hospital as a result of their injuries.
The data completeness or data capture has significantly improved from 55% in 2015 to 74% in 2016 and there were nine hospitals that achieved the TARN Data Quality Standard of greater than 80% completeness.
The data accreditation for 2016 is 96%, meaning that when patients were identified for audit the relevant details were captured to an excellent standard.
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