Patient management
| Total n=277 | Missing SI* n=15 | No SI n=116 | Any SI n=146 | P value† | |
| Prehospital care | |||||
| Prehospital times, median min (IQR) | |||||
| Call to first crew arrival | 9 (7–13) | 15 | 10 (7–13) | 9 (7–12) | 0.11 |
| First crew arrival to RSI | 42 (34–52) | 15 | 42 (33–51) | 43 (35–53) | 0.65 |
| RSI to hospital arrival | 28 (20–36) | 15 | 26 (18–34) | 28 (22–39) | 0.006 |
| Prehospital interventions, N (%) | |||||
| Hypertonic saline | 99 (35.7) | 6 | 34 (29.3) | 59 (40.4) | 0.06 |
| Blood products | 65 (23.5) | 3 | 2 (1.7) | 60 (41.1) | <0.001 |
| Finger thoracostomy | 54 (19.5) | 3 | 5 (4.3) | 46 (31.5) | <0.001 |
| Any intervention‡ | 150 (54.2) | 7 | 38 (32.8) | 105 (71.9) | <0.001 |
| Prehospital events, N (%) | |||||
| Prolonged hypotension | 82 (30.1) | 5 | – | 82 (56.2) | – |
| Prolonged hypoxia | 69 (25.4) | 5 | – | 69 (47.3) | – |
| Prolonged hypotension+hypoxia | 45 (16.5) | 5 | – | 45 (30.8) | – |
| Arrival ETCO2 <30 mm Hg | 80 (30.4) | 14 | – | 80 (54.8) | – |
| Hospital care | |||||
| Hospital times, median min (IQR) | |||||
| Triage to CT head (first image)§ | 23 (14–39) | 15 | 22 (14–40) | 23 (14–39) | 0.81 |
| Triage to craniectomy/craniotomy§ | 80 (61–129) | 2 | 72 (61–116) | 95 (58–131) | 0.96 |
| Neurosurgical intervention, N (%) | |||||
| ICP monitor only | 72 (26.0) | 5 | 25 (21.6) | 42 (28.8) | 0.18 |
| Craniectomy/craniotomy | 52 (18.8) | 2 | 29 (25.0) | 21 (14.4) | 0.03 |
| Other | 8 (2.9) | 1 | 2 (1.7) | 5 (3.4) | 0.47 |
| Nil | 145 (52.3) | 7 | 60 (51.7) | 78 (53.4) | 0.78 |
| Length of stay/treatment, median days (IQR) | |||||
| ICP monitor | 4 (2–6) | 8 | 4 (2–6) | 4 (2–7) | 0.48 |
| Intubation | 5 (1–10) | 15 | 3 (1–8) | 6 (2–11) | 0.006 |
| Intensive care | 5 (2-12) | 14 | 4 (2-11) | 6 (2-13) | 0.09 |
| Hospital | 15 (5–31) | 15 | 13 (5–26) | 15 (3–36) | 0.78 |
| Brain injury rehabilitation§ | 38 (20–73) | 3 | 27 (13–57) | 49 (29–79) | 0.05 |
*Patients missing data on either prolonged hypotension OR prolonged hypoxia OR arrival ETCO2 <30 mm Hg.
†Mann-Whitney test used for continuous variables; Χ2 or Fisher’s exact test used for categorical variables.
‡Any intervention defined as administering hypertonic saline OR blood products OR performing finger thoracostomy.
§Triage to CT head: 14 patients did not have CT of the head in emergency; triage to craniectomy/craniotomy: 3 patients had a delayed operation during ICU admission; brain injury rehabilitation: 7 patients had ongoing admission at time of data collation.
ETCO2, end-tidal carbon dioxide; ICP, intracranial pressure; ICU, intensive care unit; RSI, rapid sequence intubation; SI, secondary insult.