Mortality reduction after implementing a clinical practice guidelines-based management protocol for severe traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of implementing a clinical practice guidelines-based management protocol on the outcome of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: We carried out a pre-post guideline implementation study using previously collected data in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). All patients older than 12 years with severe TBI, defined as a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less, from March 1999 to January 2001 (control group) and from February 2001 to December 2006 (protocol group) were identified and included in this study.