Medical conditions and diseases are difficult to document with their possible multiple treatment modalities and complexities. Motor vehicle trauma and the ensuing multiple injuries are even more complex and when one tries to document the adequacy of care received when the victim enters the emergency medical system the complexity of the problem increases.

To assess the efficiency of the emergency medical system operating in Saskatchewan and the ability of the system to deal with the increased motor vehicle traffic injury load, a study was designed to identify the care pattern of the traumatized patient. The study was based on the hypothesis that "the care received by a traumatized patient can be recorded and the data can be organized in a useful form and analysis can be used to evaluate the adequacy of patient care".

The results and the analyses obtained showed us the weaknesses and strengths of the emergency medical system that was operating at the time of the study. With computer analysis of the data collected, the effectiveness of early emergency care could be studied as patients continued through to the definitive treatment care centres. The system was set up in such a manner that it could be repeated for short periods of time to monitor any individual component of the system that has undergone change or the entire system to assess its net effectiveness in the handling of any form of emergency medical situation.