Accurately identifying the patients requiring additional care through trauma resources drives effective resource management and quality patient care. Determining the criteria used to activate the trauma team is an essential means of managing hospital resource utilization. These criteria are based off of injury patterns, physiological findings, and mechanism of injury to predict the level of care and resource consumption.Pre-hospital criteria, however, have been described as having poor sensitivity, especially in older patients. While over-activation of trauma teams potentially reduces available resources for other patients, data suggest there is minimal risk of harm to the patient. The standardized triage assessment tool has been shown to outperform other triage assessment tools at both the single center and national levels.
