ABSTRACT
It would be reasonable to ask why assessments of injury severity, which might appear to be classifications, have a place in a volume on outcome measures. The question of what actually defines a severe injury requires outcome to be considered, however. We need to assess the effect of the injury on the patient rather than solely the details of the injury itself. A severe injury is an injury with a poor outcome such as death, prolonged hospital stay, significant long-term pain – the list could continue with any of the poor trauma outcomes mentioned in this book. This does not necessarily correlate with comminution of a bone, estimated blood loss, capillary refill or any of the many variables that are measured in the assessment of the trauma victim. When we diagnose a severe injury, we are effectively saying to our patient that we believe a poor outcome is likely. Trauma severity indices exist to bridge the gap between assessment and prognosis where many complex variables interact.
