Citation

Colgrave N, Ibbett I, Thani N. J. Clin. Neurosci. 2019; 64: 122-126.

Affiliation

Department of Neurosurgery, Royal Hobart Hospital, 48 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS 7000, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jocn.2019.03.038

PMID

30935750

Abstract

The Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) provides the only neurosurgical service in the state of Tasmania, Australia, with many patients requiring surgical treatment of intracranial injuries needing to be transferred from peripheral hospitals around the state to Hobart. This retrospective review analysed the medical records of all patients who underwent a neurosurgical intervention at RHH for an intracranial injury over a 10½ year period to ascertain if prolonged transfer times correlated with poorer patient outcomes. A total of 360 patients were included in the study, with 159 patients presenting initially to a peripheral hospital and subsequently transferred to RHH for surgery. A correlation analysis found no statistically significant relationship between transfer times from peripheral hospitals and patient Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) scores at 6 months post-surgery (r = 0.065, P = 0.434). There was also no correlation between transfer times and discharge destination (r = 0.088, P = 0.275). We concluded that patient transfers for head injury management in Tasmania are timely and meeting patient needs.

Crown Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Head injury; Prognosis; Tasmania