Triage of Trauma Patients Injured By Large Animals: Do Urban Doctors Undertriage?

Abstract

In the United States the responsibility to develop criteria for trauma patient’s triage status rests upon individual hospitals rather than the American College of Surgeons. Traumatic injuries from large animals represent a potential need for expanded hospital resources. Urban emergency departments are less likely to regularly see patients with large‐animal related injuries and might be expected to underestimate the predicted injuries. There is scarce research on the topic of initial triage designation for large‐animal related injuries. The aim of this study is to investigate the adequacy of the initial triage designation given to patients presenting with injuries from animals larger than themselves at an urban, safety net, academic Emergency Department and Trauma Center (ACS Level 1 Adult, Level 2 Pediatric). A retrospective chart review was performed on patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) from Jan 2006 until September 2015 with injuries resulting from animals larger than the patient. A total of 213 patients met the inclusion criteria. Our study found that trauma patients injured by large animals who are triaged as low priority have dispositions that are not statistically different from those with higher initial prioritization.