High energy trauma patients treated in the department of general surgery in a secondary emergency facility in Japan.

We clarified the characteristics of the high energy trauma patients that entered the general surgery ward of Fukuoka city hospital (FCH), a 200 bed secondary emergency hospital in Japan.Of the 7,826 total ambulance cases treated from April 2008 to March 2012 in our emergency room, 831 trauma patients who entered our hospital were analyzed. These patients were classified into a non high energy (NHE) and high energy trauma (HE) group based on the mechanisms of injuries.Of the 831 trauma cases, 741 (89.2%) were in the NHE and 90 (10.8%) were in the HE group. Eleven of the 741 cases (1.5%) in the NHE group and 18 of the 90 cases (20.0%) in the HE group entered the Department of General Surgery as inpatients, with the frequency being significantly higher in the latter group (p < 0.01). 11 of the 18 cases (61.1%) of Department of General Surgery in the HE group were diagnosed to have an injury severity score (ISS) of 15 or higher, and the rate of preventable trauma deaths (PTDs) of those 11 cases was 9.1% (1/11).The proportion of the patients that entered the Department of General Surgery was higher in the HE group than in the NHE group. The surgical departments of secondary emergency facilities are expected to contribute to the local trauma emergency systems.