This revised trauma score calculator is one of the physiological scoring systems and assesses the severity and outcome of traumatic injuries in triage. You can read more about the RTS model and check its survival percentages below the form.
How does this revised trauma score calculator work?
This is a health tool based on the RTS physiological system that is used for on site triage assessing vital signs and in predicting the outcome.
It is designed to take in consideration three important factors in traumatic and non traumatic incidents and puts a greater emphasis on the impact of traumatic brain injury on the outcome.
This model is one of the physiological trauma scorings along with APACHE I to III, Glasgow coma scale, prognostic index or the acute trauma index.
There are three fields that need to be completed in this revised trauma score calculator:
1) Glasgow coma score – which is the major indicator for the severity of brain injury with values between 3 and 15 points, the lower value being the most severe. Go to the Glasgow coma score calculator for help!
2) Systolic BP – systolic blood pressure measured in mmHg which is the pressure of the blood pumped from the heart through the arteries. Its normal value is 120 or below, values between 120-139 define borderline high BP while values above 140 are consistent with hypertension.
3) Respiratory rate – measured in breaths per minute which is the respiration or ventilation rate and is basically the number of breaths (inspiration-expiration cycles) in a minute which is normally around 60 and is called eupnea. The respiratory rate at rest is around 20 breaths per min in adults. An increased rate, higher than normal is called tachypnea while a lower rate is called bradypnea.
Each of the three components is given a certain number of points varying with the interval the component value is in, as shown in the table below.
| Glasgow coma scale | Systolic blood pressure | Respiratory rate | |||
| GCS | Pts | SBP | Pts | RR | Pts |
| 13 - 15 | 4 | >89 | 4 | 10 - 29 | 4 |
| 9 - 12 | 3 | 76 - 89 | 3 | >29 | 3 |
| 6 - 8 | 2 | 50 - 75 | 2 | 6 - 9 | 2 |
| 4 - 5 | 1 | 1 - 49 | 1 | 1 - 5 | 1 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Once the three components are awarded points, these are put into the following formula:
Revised Trauma Score = (0.9368 * GCS Value) + (0.7326 * SBP Value) + (0.2908 * RR Value)
RTS interpretation
This medical scoring system is used to assess the vital signs of the patient in the emergency care unit and indicates the intensity of the injury.
RTS ranges from 0 to 7.8408. It is established that 4 is the threshold for treatment in the trauma centre.
Values below 3 are considered to be highly unlikely to survive and are declared dead. There is a strong correlation between the RTS and the survival chances as shown below:
| Revised Trauma Score (RTS) | Survival probability |
| 0 | 2.7 % |
| 1 | 7.1 % |
| 2 | 17.2 % |
| 3 | 36.1 % |
| 4 | 60.5 % |
| 5 | 80.7 % |
| 6 | 91.9 % |
| 7 | 96.9 % |
| 7.84 | 98.8 % |
The Revised Trauma Score chart with the survival probabilities is presented below:
Example calculation
Let’s take the case of a patient with a Glasgow coma scale score of 12, systolic blood pressure of 86 and a respiratory rate of 15. The revised trauma score in this case is calculated as follows:
Step 1. Transform the values given in points according to the RTS table:
- GCS of 12 means 3
- SBP of 86 means 3
- RR of 15 means 4
Step 2. Apply the points in the RTS formula:
RTS = (0.9368 * 3) + (0.7326 * 3) + (0.2908 * 4)
RTS = 6.1714
References
1) Champion HR et al, "A Revision of the Trauma Score", J Trauma 29:623-629, 1989
2) Champion HR et al, "Trauma Score", Crit Care Med 9:672-676, 1981
21 Jun, 2015