Case for Establishing a National Stroke Activation Fee in the United States: Learning From Trauma Centers

Stroke, Ahead of Print. There is a large burden of stroke in the United States, and extensive systems of care have been established to address it. The resources devoted to stroke centers are analogous to those of trauma centers, both sharing many strict requirements for certification, clinical preparedness, quality improvement, data management, and reporting. However, trauma programs partly defray these costs through a trauma activation billing code, a billable fee that is charged for activation of the trauma team under strict criteria. There are potential benefits to establishing an analogous national stroke code activation fee. Although a billable stroke code activation fee may increase financial burden on patients, this may be counterbalanced by the significant potential for individual and societal benefits. Providing additional financial support for stroke systems of care may improve acute stroke treatment, reduce stroke burden and poststroke disability, and reduce inequality by broadening the reach of stroke systems of care to disadvantaged communities. Further evaluation of the costs and benefits of implementing a stroke code activation fee based on that currently used by trauma centers is needed.

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Gennaio 2025

The heart rate on admission was associated with the mortality in elderly patients with hip fractures: a retrospective cohort study from a trauma centre in northwestern China

Objectives
To evaluate the association between heart rate on admission and mortality in elderly patients with hip fractures.

Design
A retrospective cohort study.

Setting
At a trauma centre in northwestern China.

Participants
Elderly patients with hip fractures.

Results
This cohort study included 2006 patients who met the study criteria. The mean heart rate at admission was 81.77±15.63 beats per minute. During follow-up, 189 patients died for all-cause reasons in 1 year. Age, coronary heart disease, cancer, dementia and time to operation were introduced in multivariate regression analysis. Multivariate logistic regression showed that heart rate was associated with mortality in geriatric patients with hip fracture (OR=1.01, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.02, p=0.0242). However, the linear association was unstable, and we found a nonlinear one. In the nonlinear association, the inflection point was 84 beats per minute. If below this threshold, each 1 beat per minute increase in heart rate was associated with a 4% increase in the risk of death (OR=1.04, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.06, p=0.0017). If greater than this threshold, the risk of death peaked and was not associated with the heart rate (OR=1.00, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.01, p=0.6691).

Conclusion
In conclusion, the heart rate was nonlinearly associated with 1-year mortality in geriatric patients with hip fractures. The low heart rate on admission was associated with low 1-year mortality. When the heart rate was over 84 beats per minute, the risk of death peaked, and there was no association with heart rate anymore.

Trial registration number
This study was registered on the website of the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR: ChiCTR2200057323).

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Gennaio 2025

Study protocol for a Prospective Observational study of Safety Threats and Adverse events in Trauma (PrO-STAT): a pilot study at a level-1 trauma centre in Canada

Introduction
Traumatic injuries are a significant public health concern globally, resulting in substantial mortality, hospitalisation and healthcare burden. Despite the establishment of specialised trauma centres, there remains considerable variability in trauma-care practices and outcomes, particularly in the initial phase of trauma resuscitation in the trauma bay. This stage is prone to preventable errors leading to adverse events (AEs) that can impact patient outcomes. Prior studies have identified common causes of these errors, including delayed diagnostics, disorganisation of staff, equipment issues and communication breakdowns, which collectively contribute to AEs. This study addresses gaps in understanding the root causes of these errors by evaluating the most frequent AEs in trauma care through real-time video reviews of resuscitations in the trauma bay. Insights from this evaluation will inform targeted interventions to improve procedural adherence, communication and overall team performance, ultimately reducing preventable errors and improving patient safety.

Methods and analysis
A prospective observational study will be conducted at St. Michael’s Hospital, a level-1 trauma centre, to evaluate resuscitations in the trauma bay. All consecutive trauma team activations over 12 months will be included, with data collected using audio-visual recordings and physiological monitoring. A synchronised data capture and analysis platform will comprehensively assess AEs, errors and human and environmental factors during trauma resuscitations. The study aims to detect recurring error patterns, evaluate practice variations and correlate trauma team performance with in-hospital outcomes. Statistical analyses will include descriptive statistics, logistic regression models and multivariable analyses to identify associations and predictors of AEs and patient outcomes.

Ethics and dissemination
Institutional research ethics approval was obtained (SMH REB # 21-009). A modified consent model will be employed for participants. Staff, physicians and learners will be provided with information regarding the study and will have the option to opt-out or withdraw consent. Similarly, trauma patients and their next of kin will be informed about the study, with provisions for opting out or withdrawing consent within 48 hours of recording. Measures will be implemented to ensure data confidentiality, anonymity and respect for participants’ autonomy and privacy. The study results will be shared through peer-reviewed journal publications and conference presentations, and key institutional stakeholders will be informed about developing strategies to improve patient safety in trauma care.

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Gennaio 2025

Derivation and validation of the simplified BleedingAudit Triage Trauma (sBATT) score: a simplified trauma score for major trauma patients injured in motor vehicle collisions

Objectives
To develop and validate a simplified Bleeding Audit Triage Trauma (sBATT) score for use by lay persons, or in areas and environments where physiological monitoring equipment may be unavailable or inappropriate.

Design
The sBATT was derived from the original BATT, which included prehospital systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate, respiratory rate, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), age and trauma mechanism. Variables suitable for lay interpretation without monitoring equipment were included (age, level of consciousness, absence of radial pulse, tachycardia and trapped status). The sBATT was validated using data from the UK Trauma Audit Research Network (TARN) registry.

Setting
Data sourced from prehospital observations from multiple trauma systems in the UK.

Participants
70 027 motor vehicle collision (MVC) patients from the TARN registry (2012–2019). Participants included were those involved in MVCs, with exclusion criteria being incomplete data or non-trauma-related admissions.

Interventions
Not applicable.

Primary and secondary outcome measures
Death within 24 hours of MVC. Secondary: need for trauma intervention.

Results
In a cohort of 70 027 MVC patients, 1976 (3%) died within 24 hours. The sBATT showed an area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.90 to 0.91) for predicting 24-hour mortality, surpassing other trauma scores such as the Shock Index and Assessment of Blood Consumption score. Sensitivity was 96% and specificity 72%, with a negative likelihood ratio below 0.1, indicating strong rule-out capability. Sensitivity analyses confirmed consistent performance across varying SBP and GCS thresholds. The sBATT was equally effective across sexes with no significant predictive discrepancies.

Conclusions
The sBATT is a novel, simplified tool that performs well at predicting early death in the TARN dataset. It demonstrates high predictive accuracy for 24-hour mortality and need for trauma intervention. Further research should validate sBATT in diverse populations and real-world scenarios to confirm its utility and applicability.

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Dicembre 2024

Trauma-informed family carer education and practical skills training in dementia: a systematic scoping review protocol

Introduction
The incurable and progressive nature of dementia requires complex care, the majority of which is provided via informal caring by family members within the family home. Carers experience significant stress absorbing the challenging care needs of their family member and require education and training that can support and sustain family caring arrangements while considering the psychological distress that threatens caring breakdown. The aim of this scoping review was to map the evidence of trauma-informed principles within education and practical skills training in dementia family caring.

Methods and analysis
A two-step approach to the selection of literature will be used. In step 1, the review will consider research on active intervention education and practical skills training to support family home-based informal care for individuals with a formal diagnosis of dementia. The review will exclude passive education and self-accessed information/training provision. Only literature in the context of ‘informal’ day-to-day family caring provided by a family member or friend that takes place in the family home or residence will be included. Education and practical skills training provision within specialist care environments will be excluded. In step 2, during the full-text screen, only research where either explicit or implicit use of trauma-informed approaches has been used will be included.
Preliminary searches of MEDLINE Ovid and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) were carried out between March and May 2023 to identify literature in this area. In line with the Johanna Briggs Institute scoping review guidance, we will conduct a search of published literature within MEDLINE Ovid, Embase Ovid, CINAHL EBSCO, Cochrane Data for Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials in the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO Ovid and the British Library EThOS e-theses online. Publications in English with a date range of 1990 to current, with no restriction on geographical region will be considered. The search will be managed by Rayyan software and screened by multiple independent researchers. Results will be presented using narrative summaries and tables.
We collaborated with an experienced Academic Support Librarian to develop the MEDLINE Ovid search strategy (Appendix 1), which will be adapted for searching other databases.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval was not required for this review, as it involved the synthesis of publicly available secondary data. The findings will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals, as well as presentations at national and international conferences. Additionally, stakeholder events will engage carers, individuals with lived experience, and healthcare professionals.

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Dicembre 2024