TITLE:
Emergency Physicians Awareness of Computed Tomography Indication in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Questionnaire-Based Study
AUTHORS:
Hassan Bukhari
KEYWORDS:
Minor Head Injury, Head CT Scan, Canadian CT Head Rule
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Emergency Medicine,
Vol.5 No.3,
July
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: Minor head injury (MHT) is one of the most common causes of all trauma
admissions and it is still controversial to manage adequately. Although the incidence
of clinically significant traumatic brain injury is low in this group, the
consequences of missing clinically important problem are potentially life
threatening. Early diagnosis of intracranial hematoma by computed tomography
scan (CT) followed by early surgery is very important in the treatment
of such patients. Thus, there has been a tendency to use high levels of diagnostic
imaging in these conditions. There are many decision rules for the use
of computed tomography (CT) for patients with minor head injury. This survey
is to determine the awareness and utilization rates of these head CT rules
among our emergency physicians (EP). Questionnaire was randomly sent to
EPs from different ministry of health hospitals in Makkah. Our participants
were asked about their awareness of such rules and their applications in their
careers. Data were collected and analyzed by SPSS V16.0. The awareness and
utilization rate of clinical decision rules among 91 ER physicians who responded
were 54.4% and 42.2% respectively. The barriers to utilize such rules
were the working environment and increased chances of getting lawsuits,
which were 55.4% and 61.7% respectively. 91.1% of those physicians would
like to receive guidance on how to apply such rules in their daily practices.
There is a misunderstanding of the definition of minor head injury, despite
the high number of head traumas, which led to request more CT scan. This
will be a burden on the healthcare system and will lead to more radiation exposure.
More educations regarding head CT rules will result in better utilizing
of our resources and reduction in radiation risks.