When I was at Penn 25 years ago, I was fascinated to see that police officers were allowed to transport penetrating trauma patients to the hospital. They had no medical training and no specific equipment. They basically tossed the patient into the back seat, drove as fast as possible to a trauma…
Results of a comparison, in terms of mortality/ survivability rates for patient transport
- as fast as possible by police, when first to arrive at scene of incident, to the nearest emergency room, versus
- ambulance, by trained emergency medical service providers
Results are surprising, but ultimately, logically supported!
PLEASE NOTE
This was specifically for cases of penetrative injuries, usually gun shot wounds, without possible spinal cord complications from head or neck injury.
Sound like a special case, tiny subset, findings not broad enough in scope to be interesting? Yes, that crossed my cynical mind too. I was wrong. The comparison was done over a period of several years, with no fewer than 2,100 observations, in the same small geographic area in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
