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.

Cost Savings of Whole Blood Versus Component Therapy at a Community Level 1 Trauma Center.

BACKGROUND: Blood product component-only resuscitation (CORe) has been the standard of practice in both military and civilian trauma care with a 1:1:1 ratio used in attempt to recreate whole blood (WB) until recent data demonstrated WB to confer a survival advantage, leading to the emergence of WB as the contemporary resuscitation strategy of choice. Little is known about the cost and waste reduction associated with WB vs CORe. METHODS: This study is a retrospective single-center review of adult trauma patients admitted to a community trauma center who received WB or CORe as part of their massive transfusion protocol (MTP) resuscitation from 2017 to 2021. The WB group received a minimum of one unit WB while CORe received no WB. Univariate and multivariate analyses were completed. Statistical analysis was conducted using a 95% confidence level. Non-normally distributed, continuous data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. RESULTS: 576 patients were included (201 in WB and 375 in CORe). Whole blood conveyed a survival benefit vs CORe (OR 1.49 P < .05, 1.02-2.17). Whole blood use resulted in an overall reduction in products prepared (25.8%), volumes transfused (16.5%), product waste (38.7%), and MTP activation (56.3%). Cost savings were $849 923 annually and $3 399 693 over the study period. DISCUSSION: Despite increased patient volumes over the study period (43.7%), the utilization of WB as compared to CORe resulted in an overall $3.39 million cost savings while improving mortality. As such, we propose WB should be utilized in all resuscitation strategies for the exsanguinating trauma patient.

Whole Blood Trauma Resuscitation in Community Trauma Centers Confers Survival Benefit Over Component Therapy.

Whole blood (WB) for trauma resuscitation in civilian populations has become more common. The utilization of WB in community trauma centers has not been reported. Previous studies have centered around large academic medical centers. We hypothesized that WB-based resuscitation compared to component-only resuscitation (CORe) would demonstrate a survival benefit and that WB resuscitation is safe, feasible, and benefits trauma patients regardless of setting. Our results indicate that receiving whole blood during resuscitation conferred a clear survival benefit to discharge, and this benefit was independent of ISS, age, gender, and initial SBP. We conclude WB should be incorporated into all resuscitation protocols for exsanguinating trauma patients and preferred over component therapy in all centers treating trauma patients.