Typical mechanisms and specifi c injuries of people involved in road traffi c accidents are presented.

Injury patterns specifi c to occupants of vehicles with enclosed passenger compartment, as well as unprotected participants of traffi c (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, etc.) are grouped.
Injury severity classifi cation, treatment planning and outcome prediction is usually done based on various scoring systems, both internationally and in Hungary. The enormous number of such scoring systems make a thorough survey diffi cult and conversion among these scores has limitations. However prehospital care providers and hospital emergency staff need a “common language”, preferably a system that utilizes the advantages of scoring systems. There is no uniform practice of this communication and data transfer in Hungary now, that is why part of the important data from the incident scene might not get to the hospital together with the patient.

The documentation of prehospital care providers both in Hungary and abroad are discussed and analyzed. Score systems in prehospital and emergency medicine, as well as outcome prediction measures are covered. Data collection schemes especially the Utstein-Style for documenting major trauma and the German MIND2 (Minimale Notarztdatensatz, minimal prehospital care data set) are also presented.

A suggestion is introduced for the data content of prehospital documentation, so that it could further help hospital admission and care. The main aspects of the suggestion are road traffi c accidents, because the creation of such a widely accepted and used document (a prehospital patient report form) requires a team of experts from various – mainly medical – specialties. Technical aspects, such as digital data collection are also covered. Future directions of development are named, too.

DOI: 10.17489/biohun/2010/1/01