Citation

O'Brien DP, Phillips JP. Ir. Med. J. 1996; 89(6): 216-218.

Affiliation

National Neurosurgical Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Winstone Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8996948

Abstract

We examined prospectively over a twelve month period, all head injury admissions to a National Neurosurgical Unit. Patient characteristics, type and severity of injury, distances and time intervals involved in inter-hospital transfers, treatment administered and functional outcome, are reported. We illustrate the effects of inter-hospital distance travelled on outcome, we urge early recognition of potential intracranial injuries and advise rapid transfer of stabilised patients to a neurosurgical unit for assessment and management. These original data indicate that acute head injuries are a major medical problem in this country disabling a young population with unknown socio-economic consequences.

Language: en