Direct (presenting primarily to trauma center) versus indirect (referred or transferred) admission of patients to the Trauma Centre of King George Medical University: One-year prospective pilot study

Effect of COVID 19 pandemic on time to care, use of ambulance, admission characteristics, demography, injury characteristics, management and outcome of Paediatric Orthopaedic trauma patients admitted to the trauma centre

Background: Lockdown imposed to limit the spread of COVID 19 may have had a significant effect on the time to care, demography, injury causation, injury characteristics, volume and nature of admission, management and outcome of paediatric orthopaedic trauma patients. Objective: To document the effect of lockdown on the time to care at KGMU, use of ambulance, volume and type of admissions, demography, injury causation, injury characteristics,  management and outcome of paediatric orthopaedic trauma patients. Methods:. This record review compared age, sex, type of admission, mechanism of injury, injury characteristics, type of treatment, vehicle used for transport, and outcome among patients admitted in pre-lockdown, lockdown and post lockdown.  Results: Lockdown was associated with decrease in the number of cases (p<0.01), increase in the time since injury to reception (p<0.040), a rise in the share of referred admission (p<0.040), time since reception at KGMU, time to definitive care (p<0.001), high energy falls (p<0.001), injuries at home (p<0.001), higher ISS (p<0.001), non operative treatment (p=0.038) and greater use of ambulance  (p=0.003). Conclusion: Lockdown resulted in a significant change in the causation and management of injury, significant delays in timeliness of care, reduction in the volume of admissions, an increase in injury severity and share of referral admissions.

The effect of transfer status on trauma outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Injuries are a leading cause of disability and death worldwide, and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately burdened by trauma. Prior studies have shown that transfer status (direct transfer from injury scene to a referral hospital versus indirect transfer from another facility to a referral hospital) may affect patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between transfer status and trauma patient outcomes in LMICs by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

We performed a systematic search to identify studies from LMICs that evaluated the relationship between transfer status and trauma patient outcomes. We extracted data on study country, design, patient characteristics, and outcomes. We report results in the form of a narrative summary stratified by type of outcome. We also performed a meta-analysis of studies that reported mortality by transfer status. We calculated a pooled odds ratio of mortality among indirectly transferred (IT) versus directly transferred (DT) patients using random-effects modeling.

RESULTS

We included 17 observational studies from 9 LMICs in this systematic review. Outcomes assessed were time from injury to arrival at a referral hospital, post-trauma functional status, hospital length of stay, and mortality. IT patients took between 0.6 and 37.9 h longer to arrive at referral hospitals than DT patients. Hospital length of stay was up to 6 days longer for IT patients than DT patients. The pooled odds ratio of mortality among IT patients compared to DT patients was 1.55 (95% CI 1.12 - 2.15; p = 0.009).

CONCLUSION

Trauma patients in LMICs who are indirectly transferred to referral hospitals have significantly higher mortality rates than patients who present directly to referral hospitals. These results conflict with findings from HICs and reflect the relative immaturity of trauma systems in LMICs. Strategies to narrow the mortality gap between IT and DT patients include improving prehospital and primary hospital care and developing more efficient transfer protocols.