The Quality of Pre-hospital Circulatory Management in Patients With Multiple Trauma Referred to the Trauma Center of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Kashan, Iran, in the First Six Months of 2013

BACKGROUND Circulatory management is a critical issue in pre-hospital transportation phase of multiple trauma patients. However, the quality of this important care did not receive enough attention. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of pre-hospital circulatory management in patients with multiple trauma. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2013. The study population consisted of all patients with multiple trauma who had been transferred by emergency medical services (EMS) to the central trauma department in Kashan Shahid Beheshti medical center, Kashan, Iran. We recruited a convenience sample of 400 patients with multiple trauma. Data were collected using the circulatory assessment questionnaire and controlling hemorrhage (CAQCH) that were designed by the researchers and were described by using frequency tabulations, central tendency measures, and variability indices. The chi-square test was used to analyze the data. RESULTS The study sample consisted of 263 males (75.2%); 57.75% had lower levels of education and 28.75% were workers. The most common mechanism of trauma was traffic accident (85.4%). We found that the quality of circulatory management was unfavorable in 61% of the cases. A significant relationship was observed between the quality of circulatory management and type of trauma and staff's employment status. CONCLUSIONS The quality of pre-hospital circulatory management provided to patients with multiple trauma was unfavorable. Therefore, establishment of in-service training programs on circulatory management is recommended.