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 @entity1 after mild @entity542 in a large XXXX 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']
@entity130 :: (MESH:D014947,Disease) :: ['trauma']
