Korean J Neurotrauma.  2016 Oct;12(2):67-71. 10.13004/kjnt.2016.12.2.67.

Preventable and Potentially Preventable Traumatic Death Rates in Neurosurgery Department: A Single Center Experience

• Ha M
• Kim BC
• Choi S
• Cho WH
• Choi HJ

• KMID: 2356775
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13004/kjnt.2016.12.2.67

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Preventable and potentially preventable traumatic death rates is a method to evaluate the preventability of the traumatic deaths in emergency medical department. To evaluate the preventability of the traumatic deaths in patients who were admitted to neurosurgery department, we performed this study.
METHODS
A retrospective review identified 52 patients who admitted to neurosurgery department with severe traumatic brain injuries between 2013 and 2014. Based on radiologic and clinical state at emergency room, each preventability of death was estimated by professional panel discussion. And the final death rates were calculated.
RESULTS
The preventable and potentially preventable traumatic death rates was 19.2% in this study. This result is lower than that of the research of 2012, Korean preventable and potentially preventable traumatic death rates. The rate of preventable and potentially preventable traumatic death of operation group is lower than that of conservative treatment group. Also, we confirmed that direct transfer and the time to operation are important to reduce the preventability.
CONCLUSION
We report the preventable and potentially preventable traumatic death rates of our institute for evaluation of preventability in severe traumatic brain injuries during the last 2 years. For decrease of preventable death, we suggest that continuous survey of the death rate of traumatic brain injury patients is required.

Keyword

Brain injuries; Mortality; Death; Neurosurgery

MeSH Terms

Brain Injuries
Emergencies
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
Methods
Mortality*
Neurosurgery*
Retrospective Studies

Reference

1. Boyd CR, Tolson MA, Copes WS. Evaluating trauma care: the TRISS method. Trauma Score and the Injury Severity Score. J Trauma. 1987; 27:370–378. PMID: 3106646.

2. Cales RH, Trunkey DD. Preventable trauma deaths. A review of trauma care systems development. JAMA. 1985; 254:1059–1063. PMID: 3894708.

3. Cayten CG, Stahl WM, Agarwal N, Murphy JG. Analyses of preventable deaths by mechanism of injury among 13,500 trauma admissions. Ann Surg. 1991; 214:510–520. PMID: 1953102.

4. Draaisma JM, de Haan AF, Goris RJ. Preventable trauma deaths in The Netherlands--a prospective multicenter study. J Trauma. 1989; 29:1552–1557. PMID: 2685338.

5. Gorman DF, Teanby DN, Sinha MP, Wotherspoon J, Boot DA, Molokhia A. Preventable deaths among major trauma patients in Mersey Region, North Wales and the Isle of Man. Injury. 1996; 27:189–192. PMID: 8736294.

6. Hussain LM, Redmond AD. Are pre-hospital deaths from accidental injury preventable? BMJ. 1994; 308:1077–1080. PMID: 8173428.

7. Kim H, Jung KY, Kim SP, Kim SH, Noh H, Jang HY, et al. Changes in preventable death rates and traumatic care systems in Korea. J Korean Soc Emerg Med. 2012; 23:189–197.

8. Kreis DJ Jr, Plasencia G, Augenstein D, Davis JH, Echenique M, Vopal J, et al. Preventable trauma deaths: Dade County, Florida. J Trauma. 1986; 26:649–654. PMID: 3723641.

9. MacKenzie EJ. Review of evidence regarding trauma system effectiveness resulting from panel studies. J Trauma. 1999; 47:S34–S41. PMID: 10496608.

10. MacKenzie EJ, Rivara FP, Jurkovich GJ, Nathens AB, Frey KP, Egleston BL, et al. A national evaluation of the effect of trauma-center care on mortality. N Engl J Med. 2006; 354:366–378. PMID: 16436768.

11. Papadopoulos IN, Bukis D, Karalas E, Katsaragakis S, Stergiopoulos S, Peros G, et al. Preventable prehospital trauma deaths in a Hellenic urban health region: an audit of prehospital trauma care. J Trauma. 1996; 41:864–869. PMID: 8913218.

12. Polk HC Jr. Quality, safety, and transparency. Ann Surg. 2005; 242:293–301. PMID: 16135916.

13. Stothert JC Jr, Gbaanador GB, Herndon DN. The role of autopsy in death resulting from trauma. J Trauma. 1990; 30:1021–1025. PMID: 2388303.

14. Yates DW, Woodford M, Hollis S. Preliminary analysis of the care of injured patients in 33 British hospitals: first report of the United Kingdom major trauma outcome study. BMJ. 1992; 305:737–740. PMID: 1422327.