Secondary overtriage of trauma patients in a trauma center: frequency and associated factors

Background: Secondary overtriage (SO) is the unnecessary transfer of traumatic patients between facilities, which causes the waste of the resources of the trauma centers and imposes extra costs on patients and caregivers. This study aimed to determine the frequency of secondary overtriage and patient-level, clinical, and hospital factors leading to secondary overtriage. Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated the data of all trauma patients who were transferred to a high-level trauma center in Guilan between 2016 and 2020. The patients with SO were characterized as those transported to a trauma center with an injury severity score