Role 1 Pediatric Trauma Care on the Israeli–Syrian Border—First Year of the Humanitarian Effort

ABSTRACTBackground: This article summarizes the experience with Role 1 care for 135 Syrian children who received medical care during the year 2013 as part of an ongoing humanitarian effort. Methods: The database included demographic information, point-of-injury assessment and outcome, and was analyzed using SPSS. Results: Trauma casualties were the majority of the group (84 cases), and mostly male. Almost one-third of casualties arrived more than 6 hours after injury, and time of injury was unknown in another third. The most common mechanism of injury was shrapnel (51.2%), followed by gunshot wounds (22.6%). Gunshot wound victims were significantly older than shrapnel and artillery victims (p < 0.01, < 0.05, respectively). Only 14 cases (14.28%) underwent previous interventions in Syria. Most of the casualties (44 cases, 52.4%) underwent at least one procedure during Role 1 treatment with a high overall success rate (93.18%) that was not correlated to Advanced Life Support provider type (physician [MD], e...