Objective To analyze clinical characteristics and treatment experience of 143 tibetan victims of China Yushu earthquake, so as to provide reference for emergency preparation for earthquake disasters. Methods A retrospective study from April 16th to April 22th, 2010 was designed. A total of 143 injured Tibetans (74 men, 69 women) of the magnitude 7.1 Yushu earthquake were included in this study. Data from victims was collected retrospectively as follows: age, gender, cause of injury, place and time of rescue, chief complaint, primary diagnosis, onsite treatment, transfer, psychological crisis intervention and so on. Results The 143 tibetan victims contained 67 fracture cases (4 open fracture, 63 closed fracture), 5 joint dislocation cases and 3 neural injury cases. 62 victims with fracture were treated by Tibetan-Chinese therapy combined with external fixation, 5 victims were operated with emergency surgery, 6 victims refused to the surgical debridement and suture, and no dead case reported. All patients were given 3 to 11 psychological intervention treatments. As to the aspect of the wounded transferring, 48 cases among 54 supposed evacuating victims were transferred to Xinin hospitals, and the other six refused to be transferred and kept staying in the original place for treatment. Conclusion The clinical characteristics of the tibetan victims are outstanding. The medical rescue for disaster in ethnic region should be appropriate for features of disaster areas.Both the individualized remedy and early psychological intervention are regarded as the important measures for improving the general level of earthquake medical rescue in ethnic regions.
ObjectiveTo explore the possible association between early injury assessment indexes and the length of stay (LOS) in first-line hospitals, in order to help the hospitals take advantage of resource effectively and transfer victims reasonably during earthquakes. MethodWe retrospectively analyzed the medical information of 3 576 traumatic patients injured in the Wenchuan Earthquake who were transferred to 242 first-line medical institutes between 14:28, May 12th and 14:30, May 19th in 2008. Three kinds of 15 variables were extracted for the analysis, including gender, age, heart or lung disease, pre-hospital time, head injury, trunk injury, open injury, crush injury, asphyxia, body temperature, heart rate, respiration, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and Glasgow coma score. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with LOS. ResultsThe multiple linear regression analysis showed that age as well as other six factors affected LOS significantly (P<0.05). The partial regression coefficients of age, pre-hospital time, head injury, trunk injury, crush injury, complication of cardiac or pulmonary disease, and Glasgow coma score were -0.062, 0.157, 3.703, 4.111, 12.602, 14.762 and -1.312, respectively. ConclusionsEarthquake trauma patients with older age, long pre-hospital time, head injury, trunk injury, heart or lung disease, crush injury, and lower Glasgow coma score are at increased risk for extended LOS.