Management deficiencies and death preventability in 120 victorian road fatalities (1993-1994)

Abstract

Background: In 1992 a multidisciplinary committee was established to identify problems in the management of road fatalities in Victoria, Australia, to assess their contribution to death, and to identify preventable deaths (preventable: survival probability more than 75%; potentially preventable: survival probability between 25 and 75%). Methods: For 1993-94. 120 consecutive fatality cases surviving until arrival of ambulance services were evaluated by analysis and discussion of their complete pre-hospital, hospital and autopsy records. Results: A total of 1175 problems were identified in 455 admissions to the various areas of care. A total of 949 problems (81%) were found to be management er..