Rural trauma management.

Rural trauma is a major problem in the United States. Up to 70 percent of trauma fatalities occur in rural areas, even though 70 percent of the population live in urban areas. Over the past 3 decades, numerous studies have defined the concept of preventable trauma death in both rural and urban populations. With the development of a regional trauma care system in Oregon, preventable trauma mortality should decrease. An effort was made to improve the quality of trauma care in Clatsop County, Oregon, a community of 30,000 people with 2 small rural hospitals. To obtain this goal, four steps were taken: (1) physician and nurse education was improved, (2) trauma protocols promoting prompt resuscitation and stabilization of patients were established, (3) regular trauma case reviews were conducted, and (4) emergency medical technician and prehospital management were coordinated. This study reviews the trail from sporadic, uncoordinated rural trauma care to the designation process.