Jeff Ehresman1, A Karim Ahmed1, Daniel Lubelski1, Zachary Pennington1, Bowen Jiang1, Corinna Zygourakis2, Ethan Cottrill1, Nicholas Theodore3. 1. Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 2. Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, USA. 3. Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Electronic address: Theodore@jhmi.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Level I trauma centers use patient triaging systems to deploy neurosurgical resources and pursue good outcomes; however, data describing the effectiveness these triage systems are lacking. We reviewed the leveling protocol (cases designated urgent and emergent) of a regional Level I trauma center to obtain epidemiologic data about the efficiency of that system and identify areas for improvement. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed leveled neurosurgical cases from January 2015 to October 2017, assessing surgery date, neurosurgical procedure, posted surgical urgency level (levels 1-3, with 1 being most urgent), and post-to-room (PTR) time (i.e., the time between initial leveling and admission of the patient to the operating room). Mean PTR times were compared between case types using one-way analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey honestly significant difference analysis. RESULTS: Of 1469 cases, 577 (39.3%) were shunt placement or revision, 231 (15.7%) were craniectomy or craniotomy for hematoma, 147 (10.0%) were craniectomy or craniotomy for tumor, and 514 (35.0%) were for other indications. Among level 1 cases, PTR time was lowest for craniotomies to evacuate intracranial hematoma (mean 16.2 minutes) and highest for spinal decompression procedures and wound washouts (mean 36.2 and 42.4 minutes, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study of variability in PTR timing as a function of surgical urgency or indication. The most common leveled cases were craniectomies or craniotomies to relieve increased intracranial pressure, which were also the most common level 1 cases. Significant variability occurred within each leveling category; thus, further investigation is required.
BACKGROUND: Level I trauma centers use patient triaging systems to deploy neurosurgical resources and pursue good outcomes; however, data describing the effectiveness these triage systems are lacking. We reviewed the leveling protocol (cases designated urgent and emergent) of a regional Level I trauma center to obtain epidemiologic data about the efficiency of that system and identify areas for improvement. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed leveled neurosurgical cases from January 2015 to October 2017, assessing surgery date, neurosurgical procedure, posted surgical urgency level (levels 1-3, with 1 being most urgent), and post-to-room (PTR) time (i.e., the time between initial leveling and admission of the patient to the operating room). Mean PTR times were compared between case types using one-way analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey honestly significant difference analysis. RESULTS: Of 1469 cases, 577 (39.3%) were shunt placement or revision, 231 (15.7%) were craniectomy or craniotomy for hematoma, 147 (10.0%) were craniectomy or craniotomy for tumor, and 514 (35.0%) were for other indications. Among level 1 cases, PTR time was lowest for craniotomies to evacuate intracranial hematoma (mean 16.2 minutes) and highest for spinal decompression procedures and wound washouts (mean 36.2 and 42.4 minutes, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study of variability in PTR timing as a function of surgical urgency or indication. The most common leveled cases were craniectomies or craniotomies to relieve increased intracranial pressure, which were also the most common level 1 cases. Significant variability occurred within each leveling category; thus, further investigation is required.
Authors: Daniel M Sciubba; Jeff Ehresman; Zach Pennington; Daniel Lubelski; James Feghali; Ali Bydon; Dean Chou; Benjamin D Elder; Aladine A Elsamadicy; C Rory Goodwin; Matthew L Goodwin; James Harrop; Eric O Klineberg; Ilya Laufer; Sheng-Fu L Lo; Brian J Neuman; Peter G Passias; Themistocles Protopsaltis; John H Shin; Nicholas Theodore; Timothy F Witham; Edward C Benzel Journal: World Neurosurg Date: 2020-05-29 Impact factor: 2.104