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Among patients with cervical spine injury, do injury patterns and characteristics differ depending on mode of transport to the emergency department? To find out, researchers retrospectively reviewed the charts of 718 non-transfer trauma patients with cervical spine injury who arrived at three hospitals (one a trauma center) in central California from 2000 to 2008. Most patients (93%) arrived by ambulance.
Motor vehicle crash was more common in patients arriving by ambulance than in those arriving by private vehicle (67% vs. 32%), and falls from ground level were less common among those arriving by ambulance (6% vs. 32%). Patients who arrived by private vehicle were more likely than those arriving by ambulance to be triaged to the minor illne…