scholarly journals Evaluating trauma care, outcomes and costs in a system in crisis: the necessity of a Greek National Trauma Database

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e000401
Author(s):  
Apostolos Prionas ◽  
George Tsoulfas ◽  
Andreas Tooulias ◽  
Apostolos Papakoulas ◽  
Athanasios Piachas ◽  
...  

BackgroundAt present there is no organized trauma system in Greece and no national trauma database. The objective of this study was to record and evaluate trauma management at our university hospital and to measure the associated healthcare costs, while laying the foundations for a national database and the organization of regional trauma networks.MethodsRetrospective study of trauma patients (n=2320) between 2014 and 2015, through our single-center registry. Demographic information, injury patterns, hospital transfer, investigations, interventions, duration of hospitalization, Injury Severity Score (ISS), outcomes, complications and cost were recorded.ResultsRoad traffic collisions (RTC) accounted for 23.2% of traumas. The proportion of patients who were transferred to the hospital by the National Emergency Medical Services decreased throughout the study (n2015=76/1192 (6.38%), n2014=109/1128 (9.7%)) (p<0.05). 1209 (52.1%) of our trauma patients did not meet the US trauma field triage algorithm criteria. Overtriage of trauma patients to our facility ranged from 90.7% to 96.7%, depending on the criteria used (clinical vs. ISS criteria). Ninety-one (3.9%) of our patients received operative management. Intensive care unit admissions were 21 (0.1%). Seventy-six (3.3%) of our patients had ISS>15 and their mortality was 31.6%. The overall non-salary cost for trauma management was €623 140. 53% of these costs were attributed to RTCs. The cost resulting from the observed overtriage ranged from €121 000 to €315 000. Patients who did not meet the US trauma triage algorithm criteria accounted for 10.5% of total expenses.DiscussionOur results suggest that RTCs pose a significant financial burden. The prehospital triage of trauma patients is ineffective. A reduction of costs could have been achieved if prehospital triage was more effective.Level of evidenceLevel IV.

2006 ◽  
Vol 391 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leontien M. Sturms ◽  
Josephine M. Hoogeveen ◽  
Saskia Le Cessie ◽  
Peter E. Schenck ◽  
Paul V. M. Pahlplatz ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Nilsbakken ◽  
Stephen Sollid ◽  
Torben Wisborg ◽  
Elisabeth Jeppesen

BACKGROUND Time is considered an essential determinant in the initial care of trauma patients. In Norway, the particular time indicator response time (i.e. time from dispatch center call to ambulance arrival at scene) is a controversial national quality indicator. However, no national requirements for response times have been established. There is an ongoing debate regarding the optimal configuration of the Norwegian trauma system. Recent centralization of trauma services and closure of emergency hospitals have increased distances for prehospital transports, predominantly for rural trauma patients. The impact of trauma system configuration on early trauma management in urban and rural areas is inadequately described. OBJECTIVE The project will assess the injured patient´s initial pathway through the trauma system and explore differences between central and rural areas in a Norwegian trauma cohort. This field is unexplored at a national level and existing evidence for an optimal organization of trauma care is still inconclusive regarding the impact of prehospital time. METHODS Three quantitative registry-based retrospective cohort studies are planned. The studies based on data from the Norwegian Trauma Registry (NTR) (Study 1, 2 and 3) and local Emergency Medical Communications Center (EMCC) data (Study 2). All injured adult patients admitted to a Norwegian hospital and registered in the NTR in the period 1st of January 2015 to 31st of December 2020 will be included in the analysis. Trauma registry data will be analyzed using descriptive statistical methods and relevant statistical methods to compare prehospital time in rural and central areas including regression analyses and adjusting for confounders. RESULTS The project received funding autumn 2020 and is approved by the Oslo University Hospital data protection officer, case number 18/02592. Registry data including approximately 40.000 trauma patients will be extracted during the first quarter of 2022 and analysis will begin immediately thereafter. Results are expected to be ready for publication from the third quarter of 2022. CONCLUSIONS : Findings from the study will contribute to new knowledge regarding existing quality indicators and with an increasing centralization of hospitals and residents, the study will contribute to further development of the Norwegian trauma system. A high generalizability to other trauma systems is expected, given the similarities between demographical changes and trauma systems in many high-income countries.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e038022
Author(s):  
Hendry R Sawe ◽  
Teri A Reynolds ◽  
Ellen J Weber ◽  
Juma A Mfinanga ◽  
Timothy J Coats ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTrauma registries are an integral part of a well-organised trauma system. Tanzania, like many low and middle-income countries, does not have a trauma registry. We describe the development, structure, implementation and impact of a context appropriate standardised trauma form based on the adaptation of the WHO Data Set for Injury (DSI), for clinical documentation and use in a national trauma registry.SettingOur study was conducted in emergency units of five regional referral hospitals in Tanzania.ProceduresMixed methods participatory action research was employed. After an assessment of baseline trauma documentation, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposefully selected sample of 33 healthcare providers from all participating hospitals to understand, develop, pilot and implement a standardised trauma form. We compared the number and types of variables captured before and after the form was implemented.OutcomesChange in proportion of variables of DSI captured after implementation of a standardised trauma documentation form.ResultsPiloting and feedback informed the development of a context appropriate standardised trauma documentation paper form with carbonless copy that could be used as both the clinical chart and data capture. Among 721 patients (seen by 21 clinicians) during the initial 30-day pilot, overall variable capture was 86.4% of required variables. After modifications of the form and training of healthcare providers, the form was implemented for 7 months, during which the capture improved to 96.3% among 6302 patients (seen by 31 clinicians). The providers reported the form was user-friendly, resulted in less time documenting, and served as a guide to managing trauma patients.ConclusionsThe development and implementation of a contextually appropriate, standardised trauma form were successful, yielding increased capture rates of injury variables. This system will facilitate expansion of the trauma registry across the country and inform similar initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa.


Injury ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 2113-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Wang ◽  
J. Laureano Phillips ◽  
Richard D. Robinson ◽  
Therese M. Duane ◽  
Stefan Buca ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 000313482110110
Author(s):  
Adel Elkbuli ◽  
Scott Rowe ◽  
Shahm Raslan ◽  
Aleeza Ali ◽  
Brad Boserup ◽  
...  

Background Trauma patient care begins on-scene as field triage and mode of transportation are determinants of patient outcomes. This study evaluates the US national patterns of dead on arrival (DOA) among the trauma population. Methods A cross-sectional review of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Trauma Quality Program Participant Use File (TQP-PUF) data set (2013-2017) was performed. Trauma patients reported as DOA were stratified by ISS into low (<15), intermediate (15-24), or high (≥25) severity. Each group was then subdivided by patient demographics, mechanism, type of injury, and mode of transportation. Results Of the 4 336 816 injury cases in the TQP-PUF data set, 33 199 were DOA (.77%). 77.1% (25 604/33 199) of DOAs were male. In the low-ISS group, .36% (13 272/3 639 811) were DOA; in the intermediate-ISS group, 1.2% (4868/421 994) were DOA; and in the high-ISS group, 5.5% (15 059/275 011) were DOA. Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) (11 262) and firearms (8894) were the most common injury types, equating to 60.7% of DOAs. Falls accounted for 9.1% of all DOAs. The most common DOA age-group was 18-64 years, followed by ≥65 years. Conclusion DOA trauma patients are predominately adult men suffering fatal blunt force injuries most frequently via MVC. DOAs are caused by all ranges of injury severity. We recommend further development of prevention programs thereby reducing the prevalence of common traumatic injuries, notably MVC, falls, and firearms to improve survival. Future studies should also investigate the access to and distribution of trauma centers and the role of helicopter, ground, and police transport modalities and transport time on and reducing DOAs and improving trauma patient outcomes.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e047439
Author(s):  
Rayan Jafnan Alharbi ◽  
Virginia Lewis ◽  
Sumina Shrestha ◽  
Charne Miller

IntroductionThe introduction of trauma systems that began in the 1970s resulted in improved trauma care and a decreased rate of morbidity and mortality of trauma patients. Worldwide, little is known about the effectiveness of trauma care system at different stages of development, from establishing a trauma centre, to implementing a trauma system and as trauma systems mature. The objective of this study is to extract and analyse data from research that evaluates mortality rates according to different stages of trauma system development globally.Methods and analysisThe proposed review will comply with the checklist of the ‘Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis’. In this review, only peer-reviewed articles written in English, human-related studies and published between January 2000 and December 2020 will be included. Articles will be retrieved from MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL. Additional articles will be identified from other sources such as references of included articles and author lists. Two independent authors will assess the eligibility of studies as well as critically appraise and assess the methodological quality of all included studies using the Cochrane Risk of Bias for Non-randomised Studies of Interventions tool. Two independent authors will extract the data to minimise errors and bias during the process of data extraction using an extraction tool developed by the authors. For analysis calculation, effect sizes will be expressed as risk ratios or ORs for dichotomous data or weighted (or standardised) mean differences and 95% CIs for continuous data in this systematic review.Ethics and disseminationThis systematic review will use secondary data only, therefore, research ethics approval is not required. The results from this study will be submitted to a peer-review journal for publication and we will present our findings at national and international conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019142842.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie A. Sewalt ◽  
Benjamin Y. Gravesteijn ◽  
Daan Nieboer ◽  
Ewout W. Steyerberg ◽  
Dennis Den Hartog ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Prehospital triage protocols typically try to select patients with Injury Severity Score (ISS) above 15 for direct transportation to a Level-1 trauma center. However, ISS does not necessarily discriminate between patients who benefit from immediate care at Level-1 trauma centers. The aim of this study was to assess which patients benefit from direct transportation to Level-1 trauma centers. Methods We used the American National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB), a retrospective observational cohort. All adult patients (ISS > 3) between 2015 and 2016 were included. Patients who were self-presenting or had isolated limb injury were excluded. We used logistic regression to assess the association of direct transportation to Level-1 trauma centers with in-hospital mortality adjusted for clinically relevant confounders. We used this model to define benefit as predicted probability of mortality associated with transportation to a non-Level-1 trauma center minus predicted probability associated with transportation to a Level-1 trauma center. We used a threshold of 1% as absolute benefit. Potential interaction terms with transportation to Level-1 trauma centers were included in a penalized logistic regression model to study which patients benefit. Results We included 388,845 trauma patients from 232 Level-1 centers and 429 Level-2/3 centers. A small beneficial effect was found for direct transportation to Level-1 trauma centers (adjusted Odds Ratio: 0.96, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.92–0.99) which disappeared when comparing Level-1 and 2 versus Level-3 trauma centers. In the risk approach, predicted benefit ranged between 0 and 1%. When allowing for interactions, 7% of the patients (n = 27,753) had more than 1% absolute benefit from direct transportation to Level-1 trauma centers. These patients had higher AIS Head and Thorax scores, lower GCS and lower SBP. A quarter of the patients with ISS > 15 were predicted to benefit from transportation to Level-1 centers (n = 26,522, 22%). Conclusions Benefit of transportation to a Level-1 trauma centers is quite heterogeneous across patients and the difference between Level-1 and Level-2 trauma centers is small. In particular, patients with head injury and signs of shock may benefit from care in a Level-1 trauma center. Future prehospital triage models should incorporate more complete risk profiles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H Harris ◽  
T Antonio ◽  
A Hagiga ◽  
D Crone

Abstract Background NICE recommends that patients undergoing intermediate or minor elective surgery do not need routine coagulation or transfusion blood testing unless they are ASA 3+ or taking anticoagulation mediation, where testing may be considered. Currently there is no guidance for trauma patients. Method We identified all patients that underwent intermediate or minor trauma and orthopaedic surgery within a three-month period from December 2019- February 2020 at the RSCH. We excluded major trauma patients, patients taking anticoagulants and patients with complex admission or past medical history. Computer records were used to identify pre-operative investigations and admission history. Results 843 patients met our inclusion criteria. In total, 92 clotting studies and 200 transfusion samples were taken preoperatively. The majority of tests were for patients undergoing ankle 130/292 (45%) or Tibia/Fibula 54/292 (18%) procedures. This equates to approximately 1168 blood tests per year. Based on the lab cost of £15.97 for a transfusion sample and £18 for a coagulation sample, this is a cost of approximately £19,616 each year on blood testing that is not indicated. Discussion We hope that by presenting these results we will help reduce the unnecessary time and financial burden of routine venipuncture in departments undertaking intermediate and minor surgery.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document