Emergency traumatologists as partners in trauma care: the future is now.

Background: Decreasing manpower available to care for trauma patients both in and out of the ICU has led to a number of proposed solutions, including increasing involvement of emergency medicine-trained physicians in the care of these patients. We performed a descriptive comparative study in an effort to define the role of fellowship-trained emergency medicine physicians as full-time traumatologists.

Study Design: We performed a retrospective review of concurrent and prospectively collected data comparing process of care and outcomes for the resuscitative phase of trauma patients cared for by full-time fellowship-trained trauma surgeons (TS), a fellowship-trained emergency medicine physician (ET), and a first-year fellowship-trained trauma surgeon (TS1).

Cervical spine fractures in geriatric blunt trauma patients with low-energy mechanism: are clinical predictors adequate?

Background: Studies have identified clinical predictors to guide radiologic evaluation of the cervical spine in geriatric patients. We hypothesized that clinical predictors are not adequate in the identification of cervical spine fractures in geriatric blunt trauma patients with low-energy mechanism.

Methods: A retrospective case-control study was performed on geriatric blunt trauma patients sustaining low-energy trauma from January 2000 to January 2006.

Postmortem computed tomography, "CATopsy", predicts cause of death in trauma patients.

Background: The autopsy remains the gold standard for evaluating traumatic deaths. The number of autopsies performed has declined dramatically. This study examines whether postmortem computed tomography ("CATopsy") can be used to determine cause of death in trauma patients.

Ovarian torsion associated with appendicitis in a 5-year-old girl: a case report and review of the literature.

Acute ovarian torsion is an uncommon cause of abdominal pain in female children and is often difficult to differentiate from other conditions causing lower abdominal pain. Acute adnexal pathology associated with appendicitis is very rare, with only a handful of reports available in the literature. Reported is a case of ovarian torsion associated with appendicitis in a 5-year-old girl along with a comprehensive literature review.

National survey of the incidence of cervical spine injury and approach to cervical spine clearance in U.S. trauma centers.

Background: The overall incidence of cervical spine injury (CSI) has been estimated from small studies; the incidence of specific injury types is less well established. The approach to screening for CSI has not been well studied; variation may exist based on Trauma Center (TC) level and type (academic vs. nonacademic).

Time and motion: a study of trauma surgeons' work at the bedside during the first 24 hours of blunt trauma care.

Background: The current literature defines the costs of trauma care in terms of hospital costs and charges. We sought to define the qualitative and quantitative labor costs of trauma care by measuring the various components of bedside care provided by surgeons at a community hospital.

Methods: We conducted a prospective time-and-motion study during the initial 24 hours of blunt trauma patients' stay in the hospital at a Level II trauma center.