Triage of Patients With Rib Fractures : Patient's Age and Number Don't Tell the Whole Story.
blunt chest trauma
level of care
rib fracture
triage
Journal
The American surgeon
ISSN: 1555-9823
Titre abrégé: Am Surg
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0370522
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2020
Sep 2020
Historique:
pubmed:
30
7
2020
medline:
21
10
2020
entrez:
30
7
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Most triage guidelines for blunt chest wall trauma focus on advanced age and multiple fractured ribs to indicate a high-risk patient population that should be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Overly sensitive ICU admission criteria, however, may result in overutilization of resources. We revised our rib fracture triage guideline to de-emphasize age and number of rib fractures, hypothesizing that we could lower ICU admission rates without compromising outcomes. Patients admitted to our level 1 trauma center over 9 months after the institution of the revised guideline (N = 248) were compared with those admitted over 6 months following the original guideline (N = 207) using Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests, as appropriate. Univariate followed by multivariate analyses were performed to determine risk factors for complications. The ICU admission rate significantly decreased from 73% to 63% ( A revised rib fracture triage guideline with less emphasis on the patient's age and the number of fractured ribs safely lowered ICU admission rates. Poor functional status rather than age and anatomy was the strongest predictor of complications and prolonged hospital stay.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Most triage guidelines for blunt chest wall trauma focus on advanced age and multiple fractured ribs to indicate a high-risk patient population that should be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Overly sensitive ICU admission criteria, however, may result in overutilization of resources. We revised our rib fracture triage guideline to de-emphasize age and number of rib fractures, hypothesizing that we could lower ICU admission rates without compromising outcomes.
METHODS
METHODS
Patients admitted to our level 1 trauma center over 9 months after the institution of the revised guideline (N = 248) were compared with those admitted over 6 months following the original guideline (N = 207) using Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests, as appropriate. Univariate followed by multivariate analyses were performed to determine risk factors for complications.
RESULTS
RESULTS
The ICU admission rate significantly decreased from 73% to 63% (
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
A revised rib fracture triage guideline with less emphasis on the patient's age and the number of fractured ribs safely lowered ICU admission rates. Poor functional status rather than age and anatomy was the strongest predictor of complications and prolonged hospital stay.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32723178
doi: 10.1177/0003134820939907
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM