Head injuries in the Republic of Ireland: a neurosurgical audit.

We examined prospectively over a twelve month period, all head injury admissions to a National Neurosurgical Unit. Patient characteristics, type and severity of injury, distances and time intervals involved in inter-hospital transfers, treatment administered and functional outcome, are reported. We illustrate the effects of inter-hospital distance travelled on outcome, we urge early recognition of potential intracranial injuries and advise rapid transfer of stabilised patients to a neurosurgical unit for assessment and management. These original data indicate that acute head injuries are a major medical problem in this country disabling a young population with unknown socio-economic consequences.