Introduction:

the care of polytraumatised patients is a problem in emergency and intensive care services, and is one of the leading causes of death in apparently healthy individuals.

Objective:

to clinically and epidemiologically characterize the severe polytrauma patient.

Methods:

observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, from a universe of 59 patients, a sample of 50 patients with a diagnosis of polytrauma, treated in the Intensive Care Unit 3 of the General Teaching Hospital "Abel Santamaría Cuadrado", was selected in a simple randomised probabilistic manner. The documentary review allowed information to be obtained that provided an output for the variables studied, applying descriptive statistical methods. Medical ethics were respected.

Results:

male patients predominated (90,0 %), as well as those belonging to the 40-49 age group (32,0 %), with traffic accidents being the most frequent cause of complex trauma. The most frequent region of injury was the thoracic (46,0 %), with the head and thorax being the regions associated with the least haemodynamic stability (30,8 and 34,8 % respectively, the thoracic being the most affected (46,0 %). At hospital discharge, 80 % of the patients were alive.

Conclusions:

traumatisms are an entity that generates a relevant social and economic impact due to their fatal or disabling prognosis, making them a real health problem.

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