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Golden Hours for Human

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Devang M.Joshi
Golden Hours for Human

The “golden hour” is the term often used in trauma or emergency care to suggest that an injured or sick person must receive definitive treatment within the first 60 minutes from the time of injury or appearance of symptoms. It was believed that once this time has lapsed, the risk of death or long-term complications will significantly increase.

The concept of “golden hour” is derived from the French military's World War I data. The doctors then believed that there is a golden hour between life and death. If an injury had caused potentially irreparable damage to the body, it needed to be taken care of within the 1-hour time frame, or the person would die in the next few days or weeks.

Several doctors have criticized the “golden hour concept” because there is no evidence to suggest that survival rates definitely drop after 60 minutes. Some have suggested that there must be a rapid intervention in trauma cases as soon as possible rather than a confined 1-hour time period.


Golden hour in road traffic accidents


During road traffic accidents, intervention done in the first few minutes might determine if the person will live or die. The main principle in managing the victim here is stabilizing their AirwayBreathing, and Circulation and carry them to the nearest hospital. If this is not possible, a “scoop and run” approach rather than “stay and play” is encouraged. This means rather than waste time giving improper first aid at the site of injury (and searching for help in vain), it is better to get the victim to the hospital as soon as possible.

That being said, the potentially life- and limb-saving interventions (a tracheostomy, an epinephrine injection, intravenous fluids, splinting the broken bones, and collecting amputated toes/fingers in ice and carrying them along with the patient) that can be done in the field by skilled people should not be delayed.

The disadvantages of the “scoop and run” approach are an increased risk of transport-related injury (motor vehicle crashes), delayed initiation of chest compressions, etc.

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Devang M.Joshi
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