Critical decision-making and timelines in the emergency department.

The resuscitation of severely injured patients has evolved during the last decade. Patients are now surviving injuries that previously were thought to be unsurvivable. Systems have been put in place, that reflect the intensity of workload and severity of injury of patients presenting to deployed medical treatment facilities. This paper aims to describe some of the elements that may differ from routine practice in the resuscitation room, and in particular the role of timelines in the management of such patients.