Factors Leading to Failure to Initiate a Trauma Team Activation in a Newly Established Trauma Center

Trauma Team Activation (TTA) mobilizes a team of healthcare professionals to respond in major trauma patients. The aim of this study was to examine the factors associated with a TTA failure in a newly established trauma center. We evaluated case series of all the adult trauma patients admitted to Nicosia Trauma Center in Cyprus, for a 12-month period. Data were collected from Nicosia’s General Hospital Trauma Registry, as well as Accidents and Emergency (A&E) Records, to determine the triage field factors that were associated with non TTA. We analyzed the patients included on the accrual patient records. During the study period, 274 trauma patients who met the TTA criteria attended the trauma center. For twenty-one (7.7%) of them, the team was not activated. In the multivariate analysis of non TTA cases, predictors included were: the direct transfer to ICU from other hospitals (OR = 35.79, 95% CI 9.24–138.63, p-value < 0.001) and the Injury Severity Score (ISS) (OR = 3.621, 95% CI 1.03–12.73, p-value = 0.045). The activation of a trauma team is a crucial component of trauma care, as it ensures that the appropriate resources are available in time-critical situations. Our study revealed that all trauma patients should be reassessed in A & E department, in order to ensure appropriate TTA or direct ICU admissions. It is obvious that timely and coordinated care can significantly improve the patient outcome.