[Systematic literature searches for clinical guideline development in the field of out-of-hospital and early in-hospital care of multiply injured patients].

QUESTION

To what extent does the scientific literature have an impact on current clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in trauma surgery?

METHODS

We searched for CPGs on the initial management of multiply injured patients and assessed the quality of literature search and appraisal within these CPGs. Secondly, we compiled a list of all medical journal with relevance to prehospital trauma care. Lastly, we performed a hand search for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in some of the German not in Medline indexed traumatological journals.

RESULTS

We identified 22 CPGs of varying methodological quality. The American guidelines scored highest. Only 21 of the 38 journals (55%) in the field of prehospital trauma surgery were indexed in Medline, while 6 were covered only by Embase and 11 were indexed in neither of both databases. Hand searching four non-indexed German journals identified nearly 200 RCTs.

CONCLUSION

Information flow between clinical research and CPG development remains difficult. Thoroughly performed literature searches have an important role in CPG development.