The effect of systematic factors on the outcome of trauma laparotomy at a major trauma centre in South Africa

Analysis of Surgical Mortalities Using the Fishbone Model for Quality Improvement in Surgical Disciplines

BACKGROUND

The healthcare industry is complex and prone to the occurrence of preventable patient safety incidents. Most serious patient safety events in surgery are preventable.

AIM

This study was conducted to determine the rate of occurrence of preventable mortalities and to use the fishbone model to establish the main contributing factors.

METHODS

We reviewed the records of patients who died following admission to the surgical wards. Data regarding their demography, diagnosis, acuity, comorbidities, categorization of death and contributing factors were extracted from the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) database. Factors which contributed to preventable and potentially preventable mortalities were collated. The fishbone model was used for root cause analysis. The study received prior ethical clearance (M190122).

RESULTS

Records of 859 mortalities were found, of which 65.7% (564/859) were males. The median age of the patients who died was 49 years (IQR: 33-64 years). The median length of hospital stay before death was three days (IQR: 1-11 days). Twenty-four percent (24.1%) of the deaths were from gastrointestinal (GIT) emergencies, 18.4% followed head injury and 17.0% from GIT cancers. Overall, 5.4% of the mortalities were preventable, and 41.1% were considered potentially preventable. The error of judgment and training issues accounted for 46% of mortalities.

CONCLUSION

Most surgical mortalities involve males, and around 46% are either potentially preventable or preventable. The majority of the mortality were associated with GIT emergencies, head injury and advanced malignancies of the GIT. The leading contributing factors to preventable and potentially preventable mortalities were the error of judgment, inadequate training and shortage of resources.

Comparison of Outcomes of Emergency Laparotomies Performed During Daytime Versus Nights and Weekends in Rwandan University Teaching Hospitals

BACKGROUND

Emergency laparotomy is a common procedure with high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess if the time of surgery (day versus night and weekend) affects the morbidity and mortality in a low-resource setting.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted in 2 university teaching hospitals in Rwanda. Patient characteristics, time of laparotomy, operative details and postoperative outcomes were recorded. Chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to determine factors and outcomes associated with time of surgery. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with mortality.

RESULTS

In 309 patients, who underwent emergency laparotomy, 147 (48%) patients were operated during the daytime, 123 (40%) patients were operated during the night shift and 39 (12%) patients were operated on the weekend. Common diagnoses were intestinal obstruction (n = 141, 46%), peritonitis (n = 101, 33%) and abdominal trauma (n = 40, 13%). The overall mortality rate was 16% with 14% in patients operated during day and 17% in patients operated during night and weekends (p = 0.564). Overall, the morbidity rate was 30% with 27% in patients operated during the day compared with 32% in patients operated during night/weekends (p = 0.348). After controlling for confounding factors, there was no association between time of operation and mortality or morbidity.

CONCLUSION

Morbidity and mortality associated with emergency laparotomy are high but the time of day for emergency laparotomy did not affect outcome in Rwandan referral hospitals.

The Patterns and Impact of Off-Working Hours, Weekends and Seasonal Admissions of Patients with Major Trauma in a Level 1 Trauma Center

Background: The trauma incidence follows specific patterns in different societies and is expected to increase over the weekend and nighttime. We aimed to explore and analyze the incidence, pattern, and severity of trauma at different times (working hours vs. out off-working hours, weekdays vs. weekends and season). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted at a level 1 trauma facility in Qatar. All injured patients admitted between June 2017 and May 2018 were included. The data were analyzed to determine whether outcomes and care parameters of these patients differed between regular working hours and off-working hours, weekdays vs. weekends, and between season intervals. Results: During the study period, 2477 patients were admitted. A total of 816 (32.9%) patients presented during working hours and 1500 (60.6%) during off-working hours. Off-working hours presentations differed significantly with the injury severity score (ISS) (p  <  0.001), ICU length of stay (p  =  0.001), blood transfusions (p = 0.001), intubations (p = 0.001), mortality rate (9.7% vs. 0.7%; p < 0.001), and disposition to rehabilitation centers. Weekend presentations were significantly associated with a higher ISS (p = 0.01), Priority 1 trauma activation (19.1% vs. 14.7%; p = 0005), and need for intubation (21% vs. 16%; p = 0.002). The length of stay (ICU and hospital), mortality, and disposition to rehabilitation centers and other clinical parameters did not show any significant differences. No significant seasonal variation was observed in terms of admissions at the trauma center. Conclusions: The off-working hours admission showed an apparent demographic effect in involved mechanisms, injury severity, and trauma activations, while outcomes, especially the mortality rate, were significantly different during nights but not during the weekends. The only observed seasonal effect was a decrease in the number of admissions during the summer break.

Association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) patterns and mortality: a retrospective case-control study

Background: Low and medium income countries (LMICs) such as Kenya experience nearly three times more cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to high income countries (HICs). This is primarily exacerbated by weak health systems especially at the pre-hospital care level. Generating local empirical evidence on TBI patterns and its influence on patient mortality outcomes is fundamental in informing the design of trauma-specific emergency medical service (EMS) interventions at the pre-hospital care level. This study determines the influence of TBI patterns and mortality. Methods: This was a case-control study with a sample of 316 TBI patients. Data was abstracted from medical records for the period of January 2017 to March 2019 in three tertiary trauma care facilities in Kenya. Logistic regression was used to assess influence of trauma patterns on TBI mortality, controlling for patient characteristics and other potential confounders. Results: The majority of patients were aged below 40 years (73%) and were male (85%). Road traffic injuries (RTIs) comprised 58% of all forms of trauma. Blunt trauma comprised 71% of the injuries. Trauma mechanism was the only trauma pattern significantly associated with TBI mortality. The risk of dying for patients sustaining RTIs was 2.83 times more likely compared to non-RTI patients [odds ratio (OR) 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62-4.93, p=0.001]. The type of transfer to hospital was also significantly associated with mortality outcome, with a public hospital having a two times higher risk of death compared to a private hospital [OR 2.18 95%CI 1.21-3.94, p<0.009]. Conclusion: Trauma mechanism (RTI vs non-RTI) and type of tertiary facility patients are transferred to (public vs private) are key factors influencing TBI mortality burden. Strengthening local EMS trauma response systems targeting RTIs augmented by adequately resourced and equipped public facilities to provide quality lifesaving interventions can reduce the burden of TBIs.

Association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) patterns and mortality: a retrospective case-control study

Background: Low and medium income countries (LMICs) such as Kenya experience nearly three times more cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to high income countries (HICs). This is primarily exacerbated by weak health systems especially at the pre-hospital care level. Generating local empirical evidence on TBI patterns and its influence on patient mortality outcomes is fundamental in informing the design of trauma-specific emergency medical service (EMS) interventions at the pre-hospital care level. This study determines the influence of TBI patterns and mortality. Methods: This was a case-control study with a sample of 316 TBI patients. Data was abstracted from medical records for the period of January 2017 to March 2019 in three tertiary trauma care facilities in Kenya. Logistic regression was used to assess influence of trauma patterns on TBI mortality, controlling for patient characteristics and other potential confounders. Results: The majority of patients were aged below 40 years (73%) and were male (85%). Road traffic injuries (RTIs) comprised 58% of all forms of trauma. Blunt trauma comprised 71% of the injuries. Trauma mechanism was the only trauma pattern significantly associated with TBI mortality. The risk of dying for patients sustaining RTIs was 2.83 times more likely compared to non-RTI patients [odds ratio (OR) 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62-4.93, p=0.001]. The type of transfer to hospital was also significantly associated with mortality outcome, with a public hospital having a two times higher risk of death compared to a private hospital [OR 2.18 95%CI 1.21-3.94, p<0.009]. Conclusion: Trauma mechanism (RTI vs non-RTI) and type of tertiary facility patients are transferred to (public vs private) are key factors influencing TBI mortality burden. Strengthening local EMS trauma response systems targeting RTIs augmented by adequately resourced and equipped public facilities to provide quality lifesaving interventions can reduce the burden of TBIs.

Outcome of Hypotensive Trauma Patients by Time and Day of Arrival

BACKGROUND

Although most studies of trauma patients have not demonstrated a "weekend" or "night" effect on mortality, outcomes of hypotensive (systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg) patients have not been studied. We sought to evaluate whether outcomes of hypotensive patients were associated with admission time and day.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed patients from Pennsylvania Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers with systolic blood pressure of <90 mm Hg over 5 y. Patients were stratified into four groups by arrival day and time: Group 1, weekday days; Group 2, weekday nights; Group 3, weekend days; and Group 4, weekend nights. Patient characteristics and outcomes were compared for the four groups. Adjusted mortality risks for Groups 2, 3, and 4 with Group 1 as the reference were determined using a generalized linear mixed effects model.

RESULTS

After exclusions, 27 trauma centers with a total of 4937 patients were analyzed. Overall mortality was 44%. Compared with patients arriving during the day (Groups 1 and 3), those arriving at night (Groups 2 and 4) were more likely to be younger, to be male, to have lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores and blood pressures, to have penetrating injuries, and to die in the emergency room. Controlled for admission variables, odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for Groups 2, 3, and 4 were 0.92 (0.72-1.17), 0.89 (0.65-1.23), and 0.76 (0.56-1.02), respectively, for mortality with Group 1 as reference.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients arriving in shock to Pennsylvania Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers at night or weekends had no increased mortality risk compared with weekday daytime arrivals.

Impact of nighttime and weekends on outcomes of emergency trauma patients: A nationwide observational study in Japan

The impact of time of day or day of week on the survival of emergency trauma patients is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of these patients according to time of day or day of week of emergency admission by using data from the nationwide Japan Trauma Data Bank (JTDB).This study enrolled 236,698 patients registered in the JTDB database from 2004 to 2015, and defined daytime as 09:00 AM to 16:59 PM and nighttime as 17:00 PM to 08:59 AM, weekdays as Monday to Friday, and weekends as Saturday, Sunday, and national holidays. The outcome measures were death in the emergency room (ER) and discharge to death.In total, 170,622 patients were eligible for our analysis. In a multivariable logistic regression adjusted for confounding factors, both death in the ER and death at hospital discharge were significantly lower during the daytime than at nighttime (623/76,162 [0.82%] vs 954/94,460 [1.01%]; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71-0.88 and 5765/76,162 [7.57%] vs 7270/94,460 [7.70%]; AOR 0.88; 95% CI 0.85-0.92). In contrast, the weekdays/weekends was not significantly related to either death in the ER (1058/114,357 [0.93%] vs 519/56,265 [0.92%]; AOR 0.95; 95% CI 0.85-1.06) or death at hospital discharge (8975/114,357 [7.85%] vs 4060/56,265 [7.22%]; AOR 1.02; 95% CI 0.97-1.06).In this population of emergency trauma patients in Japan, both death in the ER and death at hospital discharge were significantly lower during the daytime than at night, but the weekdays/weekends was not associated with outcomes of these patients.