trauma activation and stratification

[Craig Ellis]

There is much talk of the evidence for having a surgeon present and in charge.
Intuitively for the unstable patient it makes complete sense.
I havent seen any good quality evidence, despite repeated references by senior list members to this evidence. I can find plenty of med journal op-ed pieces and a few simple observational studies, but nothing particularly noteworthy.
Does anyone have some quality references? Its talked about as a fundamental truth, but some references would be good. Then perhaps we could convince our Surgical group to engage on trauma and stop leaving it to the Emergency Physicians and Intensivists, and occasionally sending there residents down to have a look. So while the USA model is trumpeted as the best sysetem in the world (and might be) and by implication that our EP/Intensivist/Anaesthetic driven-led service is somehow massively inferior reigns freely here - Id love some evidence to drive our surgeons to change if that is what the evidence supports.

Craig
New Zealand