IS PREHOSPITAL FOCUSED ABDOMINAL ULTRASOUND USEFUL DURING TRIAGE AT MASS CASUALTY INCIDENTS?

A short-cut review was carried out to determined whether the addition of prehospital focused abdominal ultrasound to triage protocols might reduce time to necessary surgery and reduce overall mortality. Thirty-five papers were found using the reported searches, of which three presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of those best papers are shown in table 2. It is concluded that although the feasibility of prehospital ultrasound in mass casualty incidents has been demonstrated, there is, as yet, no clear evidence of benefit as part of a triage protocol.