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Randomized controlled trial of a scoring aid to improve Glasgow Coma Scale scoring by emergency medical services providers.

ABSTRACT: Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel frequently use the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) to assess injured and critically ill patients. This study assesses the accuracy of EMS providers' GCS scoring, as well as the improvement in GCS score assessment with the use of a scoring aid.This randomized, controlled study was conducted in the emergency department (ED) of an urban academic trauma center. Emergency medical technicians or paramedics who transported a patient to the ED were randomly assigned one of 9 written scenarios, either with or without a GCS scoring aid. Scenarios were created by consensus of expert attending emergency medicine, EMS, and neurocritical care physicians, with universal consensus agreement on GCS scores. ?(2) And Student's t tests were used to compare groups.Of 180 participants, 178 completed the study. Overall, 73 of 178 participants (41%) gave a GCS score that matched the expert consensus score. GCS score was correct in 22 of 88 (25%) cases without the scoring aid. GCS was correct in 51 of 90 (57%) cases with the scoring aid. Most (69%) of the total GCS scores fell within 1 point of the expert consensus GCS score. Differences in accuracy were most pronounced in scenarios with a correct GCS score of 12 or below. Subcomponent accuracy was eye 62%, verbal 70%, and motor 51%.In this study, 60% of EMS participants provided inaccurate GCS score estimates. Use of a GCS scoring aid improved accuracy of EMS GCS score assessments.

SUBMITTER: Feldman A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4339531 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Randomized controlled trial of a scoring aid to improve Glasgow Coma Scale scoring by emergency medical services providers.

Feldman Amanda A Hart Kimberly W KW Lindsell Christopher J CJ McMullan Jason T JT

Annals of emergency medicine 20140906 3

<h4>Study objective</h4>Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel frequently use the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) to assess injured and critically ill patients. This study assesses the accuracy of EMS providers' GCS scoring, as well as the improvement in GCS score assessment with the use of a scoring aid.<h4>Methods</h4>This randomized, controlled study was conducted in the emergency department (ED) of an urban academic trauma center. Emergency medical technicians or paramedics who transported a pa ...[more]

PMID: 25199613

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Project description:PurposeEarly diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important for improving survival and neurologic outcome in trauma victims. The purpose of this study was to assess whether Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 12 or less can predict the presence of TBI and the severity of associated injuries in blunt trauma patients.MethodsA retrospective cohort study including 303,435 blunt trauma patients who were transferred from the scene to hospital from 1998 to 2013. The data was obtained from the records of the National Trauma Registry maintained by Israel's National Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine Research, in the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research. All blunt trauma patients with GCS 12 or less were included in this study. Data collected in the registry include age, gender, mechanism of injury, GCS, initial blood pressure, presence of TBI and incidence of associated injuries. Patients younger than 14 years old and trauma victims with GCS 13-15 were excluded from the study. Statistical analysis was performed by using Statistical Analysis Software Version 9.2. Statistical tests performed included Chi-square tests. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsThere were 303,435 blunt trauma patients, 8731 (2.9%) of them with GCS of 3-12 that including 6351 (72%) patients with GCS of 3-8 and 2380 (28%) patient with GCS of 9-12. In these 8731 patients with GCS of 3-12, 5372 (61.5%) patients had TBI. There were total 1404 unstable patients in all the blunt trauma patients with GCS of 3-12, 1256 (89%) patients with GCS 3-8, 148 (11%) patients with GCS 9-12. In the 5095 stable blunt trauma patients with GCS 3-8, 32.4% of them had no TBI. The rate in the 2232 stable blunt trauma patients with GCS 9-12 was 50.1%. In the unstable patients with GCS 3-8, 60.5% of them had TBI, and in subgroup of patients with GCS 9-12, only 37.2% suffered from TBI.ConclusionThe utility of a GCS 12 and less is limited in prediction of brain injury in multiple trauma patients. Significant proportion of trauma victims with low GCS had no TBI and their impaired neurological status is related to severe extra-cranial injuries. The findings of this study showed that using of GCS in initial triage and decision making processes in blunt trauma patients needs to be re-evaluated.

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Randomized controlled trial of a scoring aid to improve Glasgow Coma Scale scoring by emergency medical services providers.

Publications

Randomized controlled trial of a scoring aid to improve Glasgow Coma Scale scoring by emergency medical services providers.

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