Golden hour (medicine)

This article is about the concept of urgent assistance in medicine. For a special day time in photography, see Golden hour (photography).
For other uses, see Golden hour.
Golden hour principle

In emergency medicine, the golden hour is the period of time immediately after a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical and surgical treatment will prevent death.[1][2] While initially defined as an hour, the exact time period depends on the nature of the injury and can be more than or less than this duration.[2] It is well established that the person's chances of survival are greatest if they receive care within a short period of time after a severe injury; however, there is no evidence to suggest that survival rates drop off after 60 minutes. Some have come to use the term to refer to the core principle of rapid intervention in trauma cases, rather than the narrow meaning of a critical one-hour time period.

  1. ^ American College of Surgeons (2008). Atls, Advanced Trauma Life Support Program for Doctors. Amer College of Surgeons. ISBN 978-1880696316.
  2. ^ a b Campbell, John (2018). International Trauma Life Support for Emergency Care Providers (8th Global ed.). Pearson. p. 12. ISBN 978-1292-17084-8.