ArticleCureus2026
A Closed-Loop Clinical Audit on Compliance With National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines (NG232) for CT Cervical Spine Imaging in Adult Head Injury Patients.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveCT cervical spine imaging is essential for early detection of cervical spine injuries in adult head trauma patients. Standard clinical guidelines provide specific criteria for when CT cervical spine imaging should be performed in such patients. This audit aimed to assess and improve compliance with these guidelines in a tertiary care neurosurgical unit in Pakistan.
methodsA closed-loop clinical audit was conducted at Imran Idrees Teaching Hospital, Sialkot. The initial audit retrospectively assessed adult head injury patients against the recommended guidelines criteria. A targeted intervention was implemented, including staff education, dissemination of guideline posters, and reinforcement of documentation practices. A prospective re-audit was then performed, and compliance before and after the intervention was compared.
resultsIn the initial audit cycle, 34 out of 37 patients met the guideline criteria, of whom 10 (29.4%) underwent CT cervical spine imaging. Following the intervention, 30 out of 33 patients met the criteria in the re-audit, and 25 (83.3%) of them received appropriate imaging. The intervention effectively improved guideline adherence and closed the audit loop.
conclusionThis closed-loop audit demonstrated that targeted interventions can significantly improve compliance with standard clinical guidelines for cervical spine imaging in head injury patients. Regular audit cycles, staff education, and guideline reinforcement play a key role in enhancing imaging practices and patient safety, especially in low-resource healthcare settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.