Background: Appropriate and timely triage is an essential component of a trauma system. In the state of Ohio, there are 6 verified pediatric trauma centers (PTCs) across 8 state regions. The purpose of this study was to better understand the pediatric undertriage rates in the state.
Methods: We used the Ohio Trauma Registry from 2007 to 2012, consisting of 14,045 records of children younger than 16 years admitted to a hospital for more than 48 hours or who sustained a traumatic death. Pediatric undertriage was defined as not being directly transported to a PTC when one was available within 30 minutes or not being transferred to a PTC within 2 hours of injury.
Results: The state pediatric undertriage rate was 52%, only decreasing to 35% when up to a 4-hour transfer time was allowed. Across state trauma regions, undertriage rates varied from 94% to 40%. More than 28% of injured children had access to a PTC within 30 minutes of their home. A trauma center (adult or pediatric) was within 30 minutes for 66% of the children, yet 32% of the children went to a nontrauma center first. Overall, 29% of children never made it to a PTC, and 4% of children remained at a nontrauma center, with regional variation from 5% to 0.5%. Statewide mortality was nearly 3%, with regional variations between 5% and 0.4%. Mortality rate within the appropriately triaged group was 5.3%, while mortality rate in the undertriage group was only 0.7%. Overall, 53% of transferred patients had a more than 2-hour transfer time.
Conclusions: Despite the significant number of PTCs in Ohio, there remains a high undertriage rate with significant regional variations and long transfer times. Continued analysis will be useful in furthering trauma system development for the injured child.
Level of evidence: Therapeutic/care management study, level IV; epidemiological, level IV.