Bystander trauma care—effect of the level of training

2003

Background: The bystander is often the first person present at the scene of an accident. Our aim was to determine how often and how well bystanders perform trauma care and whether trauma care is affected by the bystander’s level of training, relationship to the patient and numbers of bystanders present. Patients and methods:In a prospective 1-year study, the emergency medical service in two European cities collected data on trauma calls. Questionnaires were used to document the bystanders’ level of training (none, basic, advanced, professional), the bystander’s relationship to the patient, and the number of bystanders present, and to assess whether five separate measures of trauma care (ens…