Scoop and run or stay and play. Is one better that the other? Over my last two posts, I reviewed a couple of papers that were older (6-7 years) and had smaller patient groups. Now let’s look at a more recent one with a larger experience using a state trauma registry.

This one is from the Universities of Pittsburgh and Rochester, and used the Pennsylvania state trauma registry for study material. The authors wanted to really slice and dice the data, postulating that previous studies were not granular enough, such that significant trends could not be seen due to lumping all prehospital time together. They divided prehospital time into three components: response time, scene time, and transport time. To some degree, the first and third components are outside of the prehospital providers’ control.

The records for over 164,000 patients were analyzed. These only included those for patients transported from the scene by EMS, and excluded burns. The prehospital time (PH time) was divided into the three components above. A component was determined to be prolonged if it contributed > 50% of the total PH time.

Here are the factoids:

• Half of the patients had a prolonged PH time interval (52%)
• Response time was prolonged in only 2%, scene time was prolonged in 19%, and transport time was longer in 31%
• Mortality was 21% higher in those with a prolonged scene time component
• There was no mortality difference in patients with no prolonged time components, or those with prolonged response or transport times
• These patterns held for both blunt and penetrating injury
• Extrication and intubation were common reasons for prolonged scene time. Extrication added an average of 4.5 minutes, and intubation 6.5 minutes.
• Mortality was increased with prehospital intubation, but this effect lessened in severe TBI
• Increasing experience with extrication and intubation appeared to decrease the mortality from the increased scene time they caused

Bottom line: This paper suggests that the dichotomy of “scoop and run” vs “stay and play” may be too crude, and that a more nuanced approach should be considered. In plain English, the optimal management lies somewhere in between these polar opposites. Actual on scene time appears to be the key interval. EMS providers need to be aware of scene time relative to response and transport times. Patients with specific injury patterns that benefit from short scene times (hypotension, flail, penetrating injury) can quickly be identified and care expedited. Increased scene time due extrication cannot be avoided, but prehospital intubation needs to be considered carefully due to the potential to increase mortality in select patients. 

Reference: Not all prehospital time is equal: Influence of scene time on mortality. J Trauma 81(1):93-100, 2016.

In my last post, we looked at an older study that kind of examined the scoop and run vs stay and play debate.  Let’s move forward in time a little bit, and evaluate the two options in a penetrating trauma model.

This one is from the anesthesia and intensive care departments at the university hospital in Copenhagen. The authors prospectively captured information on 462 penetrating trauma victims, then looked up their 30 day survival status in a national administrative database.

Here are the factoids:

• Only 95% of patient records (446) were available for 30 day review (better that in the US!)
• Of those, 40 were dead (9%)
• Using raw statistics, there seemed to be a significant increase in mortality if the prehospital crew was on scene more than 20 minutes
• However, when corrected for age, sex, injury pattern, etc. there was no significant difference in survival for short vs longer scene stays
• Multivariate analysis identified the number of procedures performed at the scene as a significant predictor of mortality, regardless of time

Bottom line: We still can’t seem to show a difference in patients who are tossed in the back of the squad and driven vs those who have IVs, immobilization, and other things done to begin resuscitation and increase safety prior to transport! However, the bit about number of procedures is intriguing. Is this just another surrogate for time? Are there unrecognized complications from them that affect survival?

Next time, I’ll look at a recent publication from the US that gives us yet another angle on this question.

Reference: On-scene time and outcome after penetrating trauma: an observational study. Emerg Med J 28(9):87-801, 2011.

I previously published a series on the concept of scoop and run vs stay and play. For those new to the concept, it involves decision-making by prehospital providers to throw the patient into the ambulance and book it to the trauma center, or perform potentially life-saving interventions on scene first.

I’m going to repost the series first to give you a historical perspective on this idea. Then I’ll finish up with the results of a recent multi-center trial conducted by EAST to provide the finishing touch.

For trauma patients time is the enemy and there are two different flavors of scoop and run vs stay and play. The more commonly understood one has to do with treating on scene (or not) before going to a high level (I or II) trauma center. The other flavor that rural prehospital providers face is, do I take the patient to a nearby hospital that is not a high level trauma center (III or IV) to stay and play, or do I scoop and run to the nearest Level I or II center which may be farther away?

Here are the factoids:

• Admissions to a group of 8 trauma centers were analyzed over a 3 year period, and included a total of 1112 patients
• A total of 76% were taken directly to a Level I trauma center (scoop and run, 76%); 24% were transferred to the trauma center from another hospital (stay and play?).
• Patients who were taken to a non-trauma center first received 3 times more IV crystalloid, 12 times more blood, and were nearly 4 times more likely to die!

Obviously, the cause of this increased mortality cannot be determined from the data. The authors speculated that patients may undergo more aggressive resuscitation with crystalloid and blood at the outside hospital making them look better than they really are, and then they die. Alternatively, they may have been under-resuscitated at the outside hospital, making it more difficult to ensure survival at the trauma center.

Bottom line: This is an interesting paper, but it’s kind of a mutant. When I think about the true stay and play concent, I’m really thinking about delays going to a high-level trauma center, not a lower level trauma hospital first! And the authors never really define a “nontrauma hospital.” Does a Level III or IV center count? How did patients who stayed at the outside hospital do?

Obviously, a lot of work needs to be done to add detail to this particular paper. In my next post, I’ll look at this concept as it applies to patients with penetrating injury.

Reference: Scoop and run to the trauma center or stay and play at the local hospital: hospital transfer’s effect on mortality. J Trauma 69(3):595-601, 2010.