Undue delay between hospital admission and the beginning or urgent operative procedures is considered as a major mortality risk for polytraumatized patients in any trauma center. As part of a quality control study at our institution (Kantonsspital, University of Basel), the time spent for early resuscitation and diagnostic procedures was therefore prospectively recorded in 20 patients (mean age 38 years) with a mean ISS of 26.9 (range: 13 to 43). Time spent in the resuscitation room averaged 31.4 min (range: 10 to 50 min). Conventional radiographic diagnostic procedures took 34.7 more min (range: 20 to 60 min). An additional CT scan was performed in 15 patients requiring 19.5 min per region (head/thorax/abdomen/spine). Four patients underwent angiography necessitating 28 more min (mean). Time elapsed between admission and arrival of the patient in the OR or the ICU respectively accounted for an average of 89 min (range 22 to 200 min). For comparable injury severities this interval was shorter during the day than during the night (77 and 103 min respectively). Diagnoses established during this period were both accurate and comprehensive, as detectable from the low rate of missed diagnosis (three minor fractures). Although our results match favorably with figures reported in the literature we feel that further improvements could be achieved by performing the conventional radiographic procedures simultaneously with the early resuscitation in the resuscitation room. At present time, for reasons of X-ray protection, this is not possible in our institution.