EC Nursing and Healthcare

Prehospital role

Trimodal trauma death curve

(Figure 1)

War injury mortality was classically described with a trimodal distribution, with immediate deaths at the scene, early deaths due to hemorrhage, and late deaths from organ failure.

As shown in the curve, 50% of deaths occurs during the first minutes, so we call it the platinum minutes.

30% of deaths occurs during the first hours, so we call it the golden hours.

The platinum minutes and golden hours fall in the prehospital phase.

The development of prehospital trauma systems can improve the prehospital care, early resuscitation, and critical care which can altered this death pattern.

Most of the medical team serving at the prehospital care are nurses and paramedics.