Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30782878›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2019

Pre-hospital anaesthesia and assessment of head injured patients presenting to a UK Helicopter Emergency Medical Service with a high Glasgow Coma Scale: a cohort study.

Duncan Bootland, Caroline Rose, Jack W Barrett, Richard Lyon, Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 49% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Duncan BootlandKent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, Redhill, UK.
Caroline RoseKent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, Redhill, UK.
Jack W BarrettSouth East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Banstead, UK.
Richard LyonKent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, Redhill, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6339-5666
Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust · GBRoyal Sussex County Hospital · GBUniversity of Surrey · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesPatients who sustain a head injury but maintain a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 13-15 may still be suffering from a significant brain injury. We aimed to assess the appropriateness of triage and decision to perform prehospital rapid sequence induction (RSI) in patients attended by a UK Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) following head injury.

designA retrospective cohort study of patients attended by Kent Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust (KSSAAT) HEMS.

settingA mixed urban and rural area of 4.5 million people in South East England.

participantsGCS score of 13, 14 or 15 on arrival of the HEMS team and clinical findings suggesting head injury. Patients accompanied by the HEMS team to hospital ('Escorted'), and those that were 'Assisted' but conveyed by the ambulance service were reviewed. No age restrictions to inclusion were set. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Significant brain injury. SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Recognition of patients requiring prehospital anaesthesia for head injury.

resultsOf 517 patients, 321 had adequate follow-up, 69% of these were Escorted, 31% Assisted. There was evidence of intracranial injury in 13.7% of patients and clinically important brain injury in 7.8%. There was no difference in the rate of clinically important brain injury between Escorted and Assisted patients (p=0.46). Nineteen patients required an RSI by the HEMS team and this patient group was significantly more likely to have clinically important brain injury (p=0.04).

conclusionIn patients attended by a UK HEMS service with a head injury and a GCS of 13-15, a small but significant proportion had a clinically important brain injury and a proportion were appropriately recognised as requiring prehospital RSI. For patients deemed not to need a HEMS intervention, differentiating between those with and without clinically important brain injury appears challenging. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V.

Indexed as

Air AmbulancesTriageAdolescentAdultAgedAnestheticsBrain Injuries, TraumaticEmergency Medical ServicesEnglandFemaleGlasgow Coma ScaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesYoung AdultAnestheticsGCShead injuryHEMSneurotraumaRSItrauma managementtriage

Identifiers

PMID30782878
PMCPMC6377567
OpenAlexW2912222742

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.