A Portable CT Scanner in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Decreases Transfer-Associated Adverse Events and Staff Disruption

European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery : Official Publication of the European Trauma Society
Shruti AgrawalJoe Brierley

Abstract

Computerized tomography (CT) is an important diagnostic tool in the management of critically ill children, especially those with neurosurgical problems such as traumatic brain injury. Traditionally, such scans require transfer to the radiology department (RD) at times of extreme physiological instability, such as incipient cerebral herniation, and exposes children with actual, or potential, spinal injuries to the risks of transfer. Moving children from pediatric intensive care (PIC), often overnight, also depletes units of senior staff. Portable CT (PCT) scanning offers a solution to this problem, and we assessed patient stability and staff time occupied during urgent CT scans before and after the introduction of a PCT scanner (CereTom(®)) in a regional neurosurgical pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Prospective observational study of ventilated children in the PICU requiring urgent CT of the head to limit secondary brain injury. Data was collected for three months prior to, and for the same period after, the introduction of PCT on a questionnaire designed to assess physiological variables, PICU interventions, and staff time, which was completed immediately post scanning. Eight children had urgent CT head scan in the RD dur...Continue Reading

References

Mar 1, 1990·Critical Care Medicine·I SmithA Cernaianu
Sep 1, 1995·Critical Care Medicine·E WallenR A Orr
Jan 7, 2000·The British Journal of Radiology·M B MatsonS C Rankin
Jun 10, 2003·Pediatric Critical Care Medicine : a Journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies·J H HertzogK Cleary
Feb 18, 2006·Critical Care Medicine·Robert D TruogUNKNOWN Task Force on Values, Ethics, and Rationing in Critical Care (VERICC)
May 31, 2007·Academic Emergency Medicine : Official Journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine·Jonathan P N PapsonDavid McD Taylor

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Aug 1, 2010·European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery : Official Publication of the European Trauma Society·Annelie Weinberg
Dec 20, 2019·Anesthesia and Analgesia·Bishr HaydarRobert Christensen
Sep 15, 2020·Anesthesia and Analgesia·Bishr HaydarRobert Christensen
Jul 9, 2021·Pediatric Quality & Safety·Julia F LawrenceCara Doughty
Sep 4, 2021·Radiation Protection Dosimetry·Eunhye KimTaeho Han
Nov 2, 2021·Radiographics : a Review Publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc·Brian T GibneySiobhán B O'Neill

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Brain Injury & Trauma

brain injury after impact to the head is due to both immediate mechanical effects and delayed responses of neural tissues.