Monitoring pre-hospital care

The following data represent the information necessary to support the ongoing evaluation of pre-hospital care systems. The patient care record should be based on the International Classification of External Causes of Injury (55) and the WHO Injury Surveillance Guidelines. These should include at minimum sufficient information to answer the following questions:

• Who was injured and who provided care?
• What caused the injury and what was done to treat it?
• When did it occur?
• Where did the injury occur?
• Who did the patient respond to treatment (outcome)?

The medical director or field supervisor has several simple but effective ways of ensuring the quality of pre-hospital care by listening in on radio or other communications, direct observation, report review, critical incident review, outcome studies, continuing education and maintaining discipline.

A variety of performance indicators are used.