Efficacy of a two-tiered trauma team activation protocol in a Norwegian trauma centre.

"Disclosure : The authors declare no conflict of interest."

"We acknowledge and thank all the participating EMS providers and Stavanger University Hospital staff for their willingness to participate and support this project, and for their continued dedication to improve trauma care. The authors thank Signe Søvik, MD PhD, for her contributions to the statistical analyses and for invaluable comments on the manuscript. We also thank trauma coder Morten Hestnes, RN, for his valuable comments."

"The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics deemed the system revision to be a quality improvement initiative not in need of formal approval (2009/228-CAG). The Norwegian Social Science Data Services approved access to aggregate anonymous data on relevant patients in the hospital-based trauma registry (20 840 KS/LR). The study was registered in clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00876564). Conclusion:: A two-tiered TTA protocol was associated with reduced undertriage and increased overtriage, while trauma team resource consumption was reduced. Registration number: NCT00876564 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov). Copyright © 2011 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Effective system to deal with local and distant trauma"