Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Acta Neurol. Scand. · Oct 2013
Predicting health-related quality of life 2 years after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury.
To describe health-related quality of life (HRQL) 2 years after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to assess predictors of HRQL. ⋯ Future interventions should focus on aspects related to HRQL that are more easily modified, such as physical functioning, home and social integration, productivity, and mental and emotional status.
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Integration of clinical decision support services (CDSS) into electronic health records (EHRs) may be integral to widespread dissemination and use of clinical prediction rules in the emergency department (ED). However, the best way to design such services to maximize their usefulness in such a complex setting is poorly understood. We conducted a multi-site cross-sectional qualitative study whose aim was to describe the sociotechnical environment in the ED to inform the design of a CDSS intervention to implement the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) clinical prediction rules for children with minor blunt head trauma. ⋯ A total of 126 ED clinicians, information technology specialists, and administrators participated. We clustered data into 19 categories of sociotechnical factors through a process of thematic analysis and subsequently organized the categories into a sociotechnical matrix consisting of three high-level sociotechnical dimensions (workflow and communication, organizational factors, human factors) and three themes (interdisciplinary assessment processes, clinical practices related to prediction rules, EHR as a decision support tool). Design challenges that emerged from the analysis included the need to use structured data fields to support data capture and re-use while maintaining efficient care processes, supporting interdisciplinary communication, and facilitating family-clinician interaction for decision-making.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
ED utilization trends in sports-related traumatic brain injury.
Emergency department (ED) visits for sports-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have risen. This study evaluated how the number and severity of admissions have changed as ED visits for sports-related TBIs have increased. ⋯ The percentage of children being admitted from the ED with sports-related TBI has not changed over the past 10 years. The severity of admitted sports-related TBI is decreasing. Additional research is needed to correlate these trends with other TBI mechanisms.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
Changing trends in the use of seizure prophylaxis after traumatic brain injury: A shift from phenytoin to levetiracetam.
Current guidelines for traumatic brain injury (TBI) recommend antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for 7 days after injury to decrease posttraumatic seizure risk. Phenytoin decreases seizure risk 73% vs placebo during this time. Levetiracetam (LEV) is an alternative; however, no published data validate comparable efficacy. Our objective was to evaluate seizure incidence 7 days after TBI in patients treated with phenytoin (PHT) vs LEV and to characterize practice of AED selection. ⋯ Only 2 patients experienced posttraumatic seizure after receiving AED, indicating low incidence. Most surviving to hospital discharge received AED prophylaxis greater than 7 days despite guideline recommendations. After approval of intravenous LEV, a trend favoring LEV was observed.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Oct 2013
High risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in patients with epilepsy: a nationwide cohort study.
To examine the association between epilepsy and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. ⋯ Epilepsy is an independent determinant for gastrointestinal hemorrhage in a chronological and severity-dependent pattern. We urge the development of an adequate surveillance policy and strategy for the early prevention of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in epileptic patients.