What fluids are given during air ambulance treatment of patients with trauma in the UK, and what might this mean for the future? Results from the RESCUER observational cohort study

David N Naumann, James M Hancox, James Raitt, Iain M Smith, Nicholas Crombie, Heidi Doughty, Gavin D Perkins, Mark J Midwinter. BMJ

Investigation into how often intravenous fluids have been delivered during physician-led pre-hospital treatment of patients with hypotensive trauma in the UK and which fluids were given. These data were used to estimate the potential national requirement for pre-hospital blood products (PHBP) if evidence from ongoing trials were to report clinical superiority.

Setting The Regional Exploration of Standard Care During Evacuation Resuscitation (RESCUER) retrospective observational study was a collaboration between 11 UK air ambulance services. Each was invited to provide up to five years of data and total number of taskings during the same period.