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Trauma Team Activation For Geriatric Trauma At A Level Ii Trauma Center: Are The Elderly Under-Triaged?, Grant S. Buchanan, Daniel Scott Kahn, Harry Burke, Brian Czarkowski, Richard Boe, Milad Modarresi, Franklin D. Shuler

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Abstract

Geriatric patients often sustain life-threatening injuries from minor trauma. A growing body of research suggests that these patients are often under-triaged in the emergency setting.The purpose of this research was to evaluate whether or not geriatric trauma patients are under-triaged at a community based level II trauma center.

1434 trauma patients over the age of 65 presenting from 2010-2015 were retrospectively reviewed from the Cabell Huntington Hospital trauma registry and analyzed for age, gender, arrival type, ED response, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), injury cause, ICD-9 diagnosis codes, and mortality. Under-triage and over-triage rates were determined …