BACKGROUND: Investigation of unjustified computed tomography (CT) scan in @entity1 with @entity542 is lacking in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the compliance and effectiveness of the Canadian computed tomography head rule (CCHR) in our @entity341 ( @entity341 ) and @entity130 centre and also to reduce the number of unjustified CT studies of the head in the centre. METHODS: A retrospective study of 368 @entity341 @entity1 with @entity542 was conducted. @entity1 who underwent CT scan between July 2010 and June 2011 were selected from the @entity341 head @entity130 registry by systematic randomisation. The CCHR was retrospectively applied on the @entity1 ' charts to calculate the prevalence of unjustified head CT scans. A separate survey was conducted to evaluate three emergency physicians' level of awareness about the CCHR and their ability to determine the necessity of CT scans with various clinical scenarios of @entity542 . RESULTS: The prevalence of unjustified CT scans as per the CCHR was 61.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 56.5-66.9%). Approximately 5% of the sample had positive CT findings with 95% CI 2.9-7.6%. The CCHR correctly identified 12 cases with positive CT findings with 66.67% sensitivity. Only 24 (6.7%) had @entity772 scale scores less than 15 (13/14). The @entity772 scale correctly identified only two cases with positive CT findings with 11.11% sensitivity. The percentage of skull fracture (0.9% vs 5%, P=0.030) was significantly lower in @entity1 with unjustified CT scans than in @entity1 with clinically justified CT scans. There was fair to substantial agreement between the @entity341 physicians and the CCHR (k=35-61%). Two @entity341 physicians identified all cases of justified CT scan with 100% sensitivity (95% CI 71.51-100%). CONCLUSION: The level of education regarding the CCHR was found to be optimal among emergency physicians using a case-based scenario survey. The CCHR was found to have a poor compliance potential in the busy @entity341 of our @entity130 centre and the prevalence of unjustified cranial CT scans remained high.

Accuracy of Canadian CT head rule in predicting positive findings on CT of the head of XXXX after mild @entity542 in a large @entity130 centre in Saudi Arabia.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity341 :: ('MESH:D004630', 'Disease') :: ['emergency department', 'ED'] @entity542 :: ('MESH:D006259', 'Disease') :: ['minor head injury', 'head injury'] @entity772 :: ('MESH:D003128', 'Disease') :: ['Glasgow coma'] @entity130 :: ('MESH:D014947', 'Disease') :: ['trauma']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['patients']
