INJURY SEVERITY SCORING FOR MILITARY WOUND BALLISTICIANS: OVERVIEW AND NEW DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

摘要

Accurate and reliable quantitative characterization of injury severity is fundamental to the scientific study of trauma. A major focus of civilian trauma research is the development of severity scoring systems, which provides the necessary analytical means to objectively characterize . trauma severity and thus permit appropriate patient outcome inter- and intra-study comparisons. Trauma severity scoring systems are widely used in civilian emergency medical services and trauma systems outcomes research and evaluation. However, direct application of these systems is either absent or limited in contemporary U.S. Army wound ballistics research related to material development and evaluation. We believe the application of these scoring systems may provide a valuable analytical tool potentially leading to important advances in military wound ballistics. This paper presents an overview of anatomical-based injury severity scoring systems and identifies new directions for future research having potential application of injury severity scoring to military wound ballistics material development and evaluation.