Traumatic brain injury (TBI) triage tool for low-risk patients: standardizing TBI care at a Level 1 trauma center.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major healthcare burden, especially among older adults. Existing triage protocols, such as the Brain Injury Guidelines, may not be universally applicable due to institutional and implementation barriers. We evaluated the impact of a novel, evidence-based TBI triage tool-developed by a multidisciplinary team using high-risk and low-risk criteria-on hospital resource utilization at a high-volume Level 1 trauma center. The triage tool stratified patients into high-risk or low-risk pathways based on age, clinical criteria, and radiographic findings. We hypothesized that implementation would reduce intensive care unit (ICU) patient days and repeat head CT scans.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective pre-post implementation study at

SUBMITTER: Villarreal JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12557746 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature