Comparison of motor vehicle damage documentation in emergency medical services run reports compared with photographic documentation.

Abstract

To determine whether emergency medical services (EMS) run reports adequately document vehicle damage when compared with vehicle photographs by using a traffic accident scoring system. A prospective study consisting of three phases: photographing motor vehicle collisions and collecting their respective EMS run reports, traffic accident damage score development, and comparison of photographs to the run reports by emergency medical technicians using the traffic accident damage score. Data were collected in North Carolina and Ohio from motor vehicle crashes to which nine different EMS squads responded during a three-year period. EMS squads ranged from basic to paramedic levels of training. Three emergency medical technicians were unable to determine the area of vehicle damage in 48% and the severity of damage in 61% of the EMS run reports. In contrast, there were no instances in which all three emergency medical technicians were unable to determine both area and severity of damage from the photographs. Most EMS run reports do not document vehicle damage adequately.