Injury
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Multicenter Study
Hospital length of stay following admission for traumatic brain injury in a Canadian integrated trauma system: A retrospective multicenter cohort study.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability in children and young adults and costs CAD$3 billion annually in Canada. Stakeholders have expressed the urgent need to obtain information on resource use for TBI to improve the quality and efficiency of acute care in this patient population. We aimed to assess the components and determinants of hospital and ICU LOS for TBI admissions. ⋯ Results of this multicenter retrospective cohort study suggest that hospital and ICU LOS for TBI admissions are 56% and 119% longer than expected according to all-diagnosis admissions, respectively. In addition, hospital LOS is underestimated when only the index visit is considered and is largely influenced by discharge destination and extracranial complications, suggesting that improvements could be achieved with better discharge planning and interventions targeting prevention of in-hospital complications. This study highlights the importance of considering TBI patients as a distinct population when allocating resources or planning quality improvement interventions.
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The Scottish Transfusion and Laboratory Support in Trauma Group (TLSTG) have introduced a unified National pre-hospital Code Red protocol. This paper reports the results of a study aiming to establish whether current pre-hospital Code Red activation criteria for trauma patients successfully predict need for in hospital transfusion or haemorrhagic death, the current admission coagulation profile and Concentrated Red Cell (CRC): Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) ratio being used, and whether use of the protocol leads to increased blood component discards? ⋯ A National pre-hospital Code Red protocol is sensitive for predicting transfusion requirement in bleeding trauma patients and does not lead to increased blood component discards. A significant number of patients are coagulopathic and there is a need to improve CRC: FFP ratios and time to transfusion support especially FFP provision. Training clinicians to activate pre-hospital Code Red earlier during the pre-hospital phase may give blood bank more time to thaw and prepare FFP and may improve FFP administration times and ratios so long as components are used upon their availability.
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Comparative Study
Direct oral anticoagulants compared with warfarin in patients with severe blunt trauma.
We queried our Trauma Quality Improvement Program registry for patients who presented between 6/1/2011 and 9/1/2015 with severe (injury severity score (ISS)>15) blunt traumatic injury during anticoagulant use. Patients were then grouped into those prescribed warfarin and patients prescribed any of the available novel Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOAC) medications. We excluded severe (AIS≧4) head injuries. ⋯ In conclusion, we report an association with decrease in mortality and a decrease in transfused blood products in severely injured trauma patients with likely minimal or no head injury taking novel DOACs over those anticoagulated with warfarin for outpatient anticoagulation.
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The recent Afghanistan conflict caused a higher proportion of casualties with facial injuries due to both the increasing effectiveness of combat body armour and the insurgent use of the improvised explosive device (IED). The aim of this study was to describe all injuries to the face sustained by UK service personnel from blast or gunshot wounds during the highest intensity period of combat operations in Afghanistan. ⋯ The presence and pattern of facial fractures was significantly different in survivors and fatalities, which may reflect the power of the blast that these cohorts were exposed to. The Anatomical Injury Scoring of the Injury Severity Scale was inadequate for determining the extent of soft tissue facial injuries and did not predict morbidity of the injury.
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Observational Study
Hepatic dysfunction: A common occurrence in severely injured patients.
Hepatic dysfunction (HD) is a common finding in critically ill patients. The underlying pathophysiological process is one of either cholestasis or hypoxic liver injury (HLI). Using serum bilirubin, our study aimed to determine the incidence of HD in a critically ill trauma population, identify risk factors and analyse the impact on outcomes. ⋯ HD was common in our study population, and was associated with other organ dysfunction, increased mortality and length of stay.