Narcotic Consumption Analysis among Severely Injured and Advanced Aged Trauma Patients.

BACKGROUND: Multimodal pain management has been shown to be effective in treating pain in acutely injured trauma patients. Our community-based, level 1 trauma center previously published in 2022 the efficacy of implementing multimodal pain control (MMPC) protocol in our inpatient trauma population which decreased the use of opioids while maintaining similar pain control. The MMPC group had a trend toward higher age and was significantly less injured. We hypothesize MMPC will reduce opioid consumption in both the advanced aged and more severely injured trauma populations while still providing adequate pain control. METHODS: Defined by the year of admission, MMPC and physician managed pain control (PMPC) were compared in both advanced age groups and between the severely injured groups. The advanced age group included patients ≥55 years old. The severely injured group included ≥18 years old with ≥15 ISS. Primary outcomes were total opioid utilization per day, calculated in morphine milliequivalents (MME), and median daily pain scores. RESULTS: For the severely injured population, the MMPC group showed a 3-fold decrease in opioid use (30 MME/d vs 90.3 MME/d, P < .001) and lower pain scores (5/10 vs 6/10, P < .001) than the PMPC group. In the advance age group, there was no significant difference between MMPC and PMPC groups in opioid use (P = .974) or pain scores (P = .553). CONCLUSION: MMPC effectively reduces opioid consumption in a severely injured patient population while simultaneously improving pain control. Advanced age trauma patients can require complex pain management solutions and future research to determine their needs is recommended.

Safety and Outcome of Intracranial Pressure Monitor Placement Performed by Trauma Critical Care Surgeons.

INTRODUCTION: The Brain Trauma Foundation advises intracranial pressure monitor placement (ICPM) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score ≤8 and an abnormal head computed tomographic scan (CT) finding. Prior studies demonstrated that ICPMs could be placed by non-neurosurgeons. We hypothesized that ICPM placement by trauma critical care surgeons (TCCS) would increase appropriate utilization (AU), decrease time to placement (TTP), and have equivalent complications to those placed by neurosurgeons. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of adult trauma patients admitted with a TBI in a historical control group (HCG) and practice change group (PCG). Demographics, Injury Severity Score (ISS), outcomes, ICPM placement by provider type, and time to placement were identified. Complications and appropriate utilization were recorded. RESULTS: 70 patients in the HCG and 84 patients in the PCG met criteria for inclusion. Demographics, arrival GCS, ICU GCS, ISS, and admission APACHE II scores were not statistically significant. AU was 7/70 for HCG vs 19/84 in the PCG (P = .04036). Median TTP was 6.5 hours for HCG vs 5.25 for PCG (P = .9308). Interquartile range showed the data clustered around an earlier placement time, 2.3-14.0 hours, in the PCG. Complications between the 2 groups were not statistically significant, 0/7 for HCG vs 5/19 for PCG (P = .2782). DISCUSSION: This study confirms that ICPMs can be safely placed by TCCS. Our results demonstrate that placement of ICPMs by TCCS improves AU and possibly improves TTP.