Can a clinical decision rule help ambulance paramedics identify older adults with a traumatic brain injury who would benefit from being transported to a hospital with onsite neurosurgical services?

Derivation and narrow validation of a clinical decision rule for paramedics to triage an older adult with a traumatic brain injury

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN80889562

Enrollment

1080

Registered

2021-07-29

Start date

2021-09-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2023-03-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Traumatic brain injury Injury, Occupational Diseases, Poisoning

Interventions

There are five cohorts of patients to be screened during the study period: 1. Head CT positive for traumatic brain injury (TBI) referred and accepted by neurosurgeons: these patients w

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Aged 60 years or older 2. Has a diagnosis of TBI; Traumatic Brain Injury; head injury, on the hospital admission form 3. Has a head injury recorded on their presenting reason or patient record crew condition code (C13 [Intracranial haemorrhage], M29 [Injury of the head (Disorder)]) on SECAmb patient care record 4. Has been seen, treated, transported, or discharged by a SECAmb clinician 5. Any severity of TBI

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Aged 59 and younger 2. Previous TBI 3. The patient presented to an ambulance service not participating in the study

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Patients accepted under neurosurgical services: identification of patients at the scene of their injury with a traumatic brain injury suitable for transportation to a hospital with onsite neurosurgical services through linking hospital and ambulance patient care records at a single timepoint	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Collected from hospital and ambulance records at a single timepoint: 1. Patients with positive head CT scans for traumatic brain injury: identification of patients at the scene of their injury who would be suitable for transportation to the nearest hospital for a head CT scan 2. Likelihood of transfer to neurosurgical services: the probability of a patient being admitted to a neurosurgical service based on the initial emergency department they were transported to 3. Unnecessary transportation to the emergency department for head CT scan following an injury: patients with a negative head CT scan following their incident who do not require any other services from the emergency department	—

Measure

Time frame

Collected from hospital and ambulance records at a single timepoint: 1. Patients with positive head CT scans for traumatic brain injury: identification of patients at the scene of their injury who would be suitable for transportation to the nearest hospital for a head CT scan 2. Likelihood of transfer to neurosurgical services: the probability of a patient being admitted to a neurosurgical service based on the initial emergency department they were transported to 3. Unnecessary transportation to the emergency department for head CT scan following an injury: patients with a negative head CT scan following their incident who do not require any other services from the emergency department

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Countries

England, United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactJack Barrett

jack.barrett@secamb.nhs.uk+44 (0)7789650548

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026