The effects of prehospital trauma care on survival from a 50-meter fall.

One hundred eighty individuals are known to have jumped or fallen from Seattle's Aurora Bridge during the past 49 years. The survival rate has been increasing, as has been the severity of injury experienced by the survivors. Both prehospital resuscitative measures and advances in the overall care of the trauma patients in hospital may have contributed to this. The survival statistics and injury severity scores of this homogeneous group of patients before and after the institution of a sophisticated prehospital emergency medical care program (Medic I) provide historically controlled data on the role of this type of system in the care of trauma patients. More patients who were alive at the scene arrived at the hospital alive after the development of the Medic I program. Overall survival was tripled. Patients with more severe injuries survived. These data demonstrate that prehospital airway control, ventilation, initiation of fluid resuscitation and cardiovascular support by physician-supervised paramedical personnel can significantly benefit multiple trauma patients. In this context, the Medic I approach was superior to the previously existing 'load and go' system.