Study: Prehospital Treatment Guidelines Double Severe Head Injury Survival

Training emergency medical services agencies to implement prehospital guidelines for traumatic brain injury doubled the survival rate for patients with severe head trauma, according to a study reported recently in JAMA Surgery. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study trained EMS agencies across Arizona to implement the guidelines and compared patient outcomes before and after implementation. Among other findings, the guidelines tripled survival for patients with severe TBI who needed a breathing tube inserted by EMS personnel, and were associated with an overall increase in survival to hospital admission.