Neurosurgical resources and transfer policies for head injuries.
Criteria for transferring head injured patients to a regional neurosurgical unit were changed to enable a larger proportion of patients admitted to primary surgical wards to have a CT scan. The yearly number of transfers doubled, more intracranial haematomas were detected, and mortality from this complication was reduced. To operate such a policy requires seven neurosurgical beds per million for head injuries, given the Glasgow practice of early return of patients to primary surgical wards.
D001509:Bed Occupancy; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D006406:Hematoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery; D011050:Policy Making; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012606:Scotland; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014164:Transfer Agreement