A comparison of traumatic arrest cases intervened by Ankara Provincial Ambulance Service teams in the years 2017 and 2018

This study aimed to evaluate traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) cases in Turkey. This study was performed on 241 of the 10974 arrest cases (2.2%) intervened by Ankara Provincial Ambulance Service teams in 2017–2018, who developed after traumatic events. The cases recorded as R09 and I46 according to the ICD-10 classification were included in the study. The significance tests of the data were performed using SPSS for Windows version 13.0. For the statistical significance level, the P value was accepted as >0.05. The arrival at scene time was 09: 48 (min: s) in 2017 and 14: 23 (min: s) in 2018. The intervention at the scene time was 18: 04 (min: s) in 2017 (P = 0.043) and 28: 48 (min: s) in 2018. The emergency department wait time was 21: 10 (min: s) in 2017 and 17: 29 (min: s) in 2018 (P = 0.000). The driving distance to the scene was 6.4 km in 2017 and 8.0 km in 2018. The business time of a unit for a case was 1: 31: 49 (h: min: s) in 2017 and 01: 10: 03 (h: min: s) in 2018. The average wage for a case was 738 YTL in 2017 and 622 YTL in 2018. In 2018, 24.5% of the cases (n = 25) were dead on arrival, while the number was 18% (n = 25) in 2017. In 2017, a demand arose for secondary transport of 29 patients after primary transport to a hospital, and 6 (20.7%) of them were secondarily transported to another hospital for specialist consultation. In 2018, 12 (54.5%) out of a total of 51 patients transported primarily to a hospital were secondarily transported to another hospital for specialist consultation. In Turkey, as in other countries, patients with TCA constituted the group of patients with the lowest survival rate. It was determined that trauma teams should be formed to intervene the cases transported to the hospital.