Spotlight on Research

Recent studies suggest that in cases of serious trauma, reducing prehospital time could improve survivability of patients. An area of particular interest is the reduction in time spent on scene by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. The Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) programme is used and recognised worldwide, focusing on an approach to minimise on-scene times. It adopts the Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability and Exposure (ABCDE) approach and considers the kinematics of trauma.

This Iranian study was stimulated by high levels of trauma deaths occurring in the prehospital setting and used a controlled field trial to establish if PHTLS training impacted on on-scene times. Two homogenous groups were randomised to participate in the study with one group receiving PHTLS training, and one not. Baseline data were established to ascertain on-scene times prior to the intervention with further assessment of on-scene times in at least three trauma cases one week after the training, and then one month after the training.