Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

• In urban settings, it is becoming more common for police to transport critical patients from scene to hospital
• A 2022 multicenter observational study compared mortality rates in patients with penetrating injury to torso and/or proximal extremity when transported by EMS versus police
• Approximately 18% of patients were transported by police
• Overall mortality was approximately 15% in both groups
• In patients with more severe injury, mortality was still similar at approximately 36% and 38% respectively

References

Taghavi S, Maher Z, Goldberg AJ, et al. An analysis of police transport in an Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma multicenter trial examining prehospital procedures in penetrating trauma patients. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2022;93(2):265-272. doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000003563

Jacoby SF, Branas CC, Holena DN, Kaufman EJ. Beyond survival: the broader consequences of prehospital transport by police for penetrating trauma. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2020;5(1):e000541. Published 2020 Nov 26. doi:10.1136/tsaco-2020-000541

Summarized by Kirsten Hughes, MS4 | Edited by John Spartz, MS4 & Erik Verzemnieks, MD

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