Road safety has always been a concern for most sectors in a community. But there are times when these accidents cannot be avoided even with if a car is equipped with the most sophisticated safety systems available. In times like this, speedy emergency assistance is needed to ensure the survival of those injured in a certain accident. The time it takes for medical assistance to arrive for the victims determines the chances of survival of the victims. Sadly, it seems that most crash victims are deprived of vital life-saving resources.
The Health and Safety Research, Inc. has recently made public the results of a study that they conducted. The study looks into the response of hospital systems to car accidents in the state of Massachusetts. A thorough state-wide study that lasted for a period of one year found out that the chance of survival of crash victims are reduced by two to ten times because of the fact that life-saving resources are not made available to the victims. The finding is staggering since the state where the study was conducted has the lowest crash death rate in the country and is one of the ten lowest regions in the world. This means that other states and different countries are under-utilizing life-saving resources like air ambulance units to an even greater extent.
The result of the study is published in the Journal of Trauma which is a medical journal. The study was conducted in the aforementioned state with the cooperation of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Governor's Highway Safety Bureau. Throughout the one year study, the HSRI has compiled data which are quite important in determining whether the response of medical facilities is satisfactory or not. The institution tracks the person involved in an accident. Starting from the scene of the accidents to whether the victim survived or not, they took into consideration whether these victims are transported or not with the use of medical helicopters and ground ambulance. They also noted where the victims are brought after the accident whether to a specialized trauma center or not. They also gathered data about hospital treatment that the victim has undergone and inter-hospital transfers.
All of the aforementioned data are then studied to find out the performance of the state's medical facility's response to traffic accidents. The HSRI uses the state/national guidelines for the qualification of victims for helicopter transport and/or specialized trauma center care. With all the data gathered, the HSRI found out that the medical facility in the state is under-utilizing their life-saving resources. This performance, sadly, is not even close to the performance of a .
The study conducted shows that 83 percent of the victims who qualified for direct helicopter transport to a trauma center did not receive the said vital service. This significantly reduces the chance of survival of victims. The study also shows that 62 percent of those who qualified for direct transport, via ground ambulance or helicopter, to a trauma center did not receive the said privilege. The predominant reason why medical helicopters are not deployed to aid victims of serious car crashes is that they are simply not requested even though they are available.
The importance of immediate response and the utilization of life-saving resources are emphasized in the result of the study. The HSRI found out that, ultimately, those victims that received the aid of life-saving resources has a chance of survival double that of those victims who are deprived of the same resources. This means that if the state's medical facilities did not under utilize their life-saving resources, the number of fatalities due to road accidents can be significantly reduced.
