Table 1

Characteristics of the Centre for Paramedic Education and Research data set

CharacteristicDescription
PopulationCPER receives data from the ambulance call report from the service operator in electronic format for integration into the CPER database. Scope includes emergency medical operators in the Western Region of the province. Seven of 9 regions are represented in our study cohort.
Eligibility criteria
 Query 1“Trauma injury site/type” is populated (minimum 1 cell valued); and problem code = musculoskeletal/trauma (ambulance call report code 66 or 67); and special transport code = 1 of the 3 field trauma triage transport codes; and not ST-elevation myocardial infarction or stroke; and minimum 1 of the following: hospital 4-digit code is entered (i.e., “receiving facility” is populated); patient deceased; patient transported by another ambulance.
 Final queryIf assessment of iteration 1 showed that “problem code” and “trauma injury site/type” were inconsistent or incomplete, these fields were removed from the query.
Data

  • Basic patient demographic characteristics (name, age, sex)

  • Call number and date

  • Primary problem code

  • Final primary problem code

  • Emergency medical service code

  • Injury type and location codes

  • Mechanism of injury code

  • Nonoperative procedures (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, shock)

  • Dispatch priority

  • Return priority

  • Receiving hospital code

  • Time stamps (dates and times of occurrence; call received, crew notified; crew mobile; arrive scene; arrive patient; depart scene; arrive destination; depart destination)

Indirect identifiers for linkage across data sourcesPatient’s name/initials, date of birth and sex, call date, receiving facility code.

  • CPER = Centre for Paramedic Education and Research.