ATCEMS Performance Dashboard > Trauma Scene Interval per Quarter > Performance Measure Definition: Trauma Alert Scene Interval Compliance
Performance Measure Definition: Trauma Alert Scene Interval Compliance
Description: This indicator measures how long ATCEMS units remain on scene, assessing and treating patients who meet Physiological or Anatomical criteria for triage to a Trauma Center (referred to as “Trauma Alerts”).
Desired Outcome:  Trauma Alerts indicate situations where patient outcome is determined in large part by how quickly they receive definitive care. In these cases, ATCEMS personnel expedite assessment, packaging, and initiating transport to a Trauma Center.
Relevance:  Alert patients require rapid access to definitive care for their conditions.  In these cases, ATCEMS personnel must prioritize initiation of transport over non-lifesaving care.
Measure Domain: Clinical care
Type of Measure:  Process
Operational Specifications
Formula Description:  Trauma Alert Scene Interval Compliance is calculated by dividing the count of Trauma Alert patient contacts with a scene time interval of less than 15 minutes by the count of all Trauma Alert patient contacts.
Unit of Analysis:  Patient contacts
Population:
  • Numerator: Patient contacts documented as meeting Trauma Alert criteria, transported to a receiving facility, and have a scene time of less than 15 minutes.
  • Denominator:  All patient contacts meeting Trauma Alert criteria who are transported to a receiving facility.
Measure Frequency:  Quarterly
Minimum Population/Sample:  None
Performance Standard:  ATCEMS personnel will initiate transport of alert patients within 15 minutes of arrival at scene, in 90 percent of all cases.
Acceptable Quality Level:  Not defined
Interval Description:  The time interval beginning with the Scene Arrival Time for the first on-scene transporting unit and ending with the Scene Departure time (from CAD) for the unit transporting the patient.
Reporting Value:  Percent of patient contacts meeting performance target.
Aggregation:
  • Temporal aggregations (month, hour of day, etc.) are based on the date/time of earliest recorded call pickup. 
  • Other aggregations may be based on alert type, demographic factors, geography, or receiving facility.
Stratification: None
Limitations:  None
Related Measures: 
  • CPI 01 - Trauma Alert Scene Time: The CPI indicator uses the same filter set as the compliance measure, but reports performance at the 90th percentile of scene intervals for a fiscal quarter. The CPI measure excludes patients for whom a scene delay was appropriate; these patients are included in the “goal met” population for the present compliance measure.
Notes: Transport delays may be unavoidable in some cases, such as delayed access to patients due to scene safety issues, difficulty identifying or reaching patient, etc.
Performance is reported on a quarterly basis due to generally small monthly alert patient counts.
The measure definition was edited in September 2016, changing exclusion criteria, numerator calculations, and denominator calculations in order to support future performance bundle reporting.
Reporting
ATCEMS Open Performance Dashboard
City of Austin Open Data Portal
Travis County Performance Dashboard
  • Medium: Web site chart: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/trauma
  • Orientation: External
  • Format: Line chart of monthly values, beginning in the first quarter of FY2013-14.
  • Data Source: Open Data table [EMS - Quarterly Clinical Measures – Trauma Alert]

References 
Office of the Medical Director, Austin/Travis County EMS System (2016).  “Clinical Reference CR-30: Regional Trauma System Adult and Pediatric Criteria.” Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Service System Clinical Operating Guidelines version 021716.
Metadata 
Development Status: Actively reporting 
Definition Version: Version C 
Revision Date: 2017-04-26
Revised By: David Andersen