Fast track medical records in maxillofacial trauma – Role of standardized pro forma

Abstract

Maxillofacial trauma and associated injuries pose a multitude of challenging scenarios in the emergency room in terms of both diagnosis primary and definitive treatment. Quick and prompt assessment is the need of the hour then. This study is aimed at designing a maxillofacial trauma pro forma that can aid in rapid assessment and examination of the patient in turn reducing the time wasted in the casualty and swift treatment response. Study Design: Three hundred and forty eight patients were assessed using the pro forma as part of the study. Time taken for complete case history recording and the quality of the details gathered from the patient using the pro forma as compared routine history taking were recorded and analysed. Result: All inclusive, the pro forma proved to be a better tool for the emergency room both in terms of time taken (3.627 min) and completeness and accuracy of the history taken as opposed to the conventional case history taking. Conclusion: The maxillofacial trauma pro forma can be indispensible handy tool in assessment of Maxillofacial trauma and associated injuries as it can reduce the time taken and improve accuracy of the details procured by the patient thus aiding in rapid diagnosis and swift treatment .