Scores in polytrauma--do they help?

Background: The answer to the question "Scores in polytrauma - do they help ?" is discussed.
Discussion: One of the two sections deals with the role of scores used for clinical decision making in individual patients and, in the other, the significance of scores in improving patient care is analyzed.
Results: It is shown that scores may be helpful in both regards. However, certain methodological limitations of scores have to be considered.