The "Golden Hour" and field triage pattern for road trauma patients.

Introduction: Although the term "golden hour" is a well-known concept among trauma system and emergency medical service providers, the relationship between time and trauma patient outcome and the process of prehospital care for road trauma patients in rural settings are poorly understood. As the underlying basis for triage decision-making, the estimated transport interval to trauma center is usually absent in the existing studies.

Method: In this study, the crash data between 2013 and 2017 were obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, and the estimated intervals were calculated by using a Geographic Information System software.