Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine.

Background: An audit of the management and outcome of major trauma patients was carried out to determine ways in which the system of care may be improved. Methods: The Major Trauma Management Study (MTMS) collected data prospectively on all consecutively admitted major trauma patients at eight major hospitals during a 12-month period. Outcome was studied using trauma and injury severity score (TRISS) and a severity characterization of trauma (ASCOT) analyses, as well as a preventable outcome analysis, which looked at survivors with complications or with a Glasgow Coma Score < 15 on discharge from hospital, as well as studying deaths. Results:The group of 859 patients was more severely injured than most described previously, with a mortality of 14.8% and a mean injury severity score of 19.8. Formal ASCOT analysis indicated 2.25% fewer survivors than would be predicted by Major Trauma Outcome Study norms. Extrapolating the TRISS and ASCOT process to include those patients with missing data, and then comparing groups of matched severity with the norms, gave no statistically different outcome in the MTMS group of patients. Preventable outcome analysis revealed rates of preventable and potentially preventable (PPP) outcomes of 32% among deaths and 8% among survivors. The types of management deficiencies responsible for P/PP outcomes are identified. Conclusions: The points of deficiency in a system of care have been identified, and the development of an integrated trauma system in Victoria, based upon these facts, is recommended. Children, the elderly, patients with head injuries and patients being transferred between hospitals would benefit from improvements to the system of care. The calculation of efficacy rate (0.95 for the MTMS patients) is recommended to accurately assess the system of care. Preventable Outcome Analysis is more relevant to auditing a system of trauma care in detail, than is ASCOT or TRISS. The MTMS has refined and defined the process so that it is reproducible in further comparative studies.

The study contributes to the growing recognition of adolescent self-poisoning as a serious paediatric mental health issue. It also confirmed that an increase in adolescent hospitalizations due to self-poisoning has occurred in NL. Further research is warranted to identify effective prevention strategies for this serious problem.

Background The Clavien–Dindo classification is perhaps the most widely used approach for reporting postoperative complications in clinical trials. This system classifies complication severity by the treatment provided. However, it is unclear whether the Clavien–Dindo system can be used internationally in studies across differing healthcare systems in high‐ (HICs) and low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Methods This was a secondary analysis of the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), a prospective observational cohort study of elective surgery in adults. Data collection occurred over a 7‐day period. Severity of complications was graded using Clavien–Dindo and the simpler ISOS grading (mild, moderate or severe, based on guided investigator judgement). Severity grading was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data are presented as frequencies and ICC values (with 95 per cent c.i.). The analysis was stratified by income status of the country, comparing HICs with LMICs. Results A total of 44 814 patients were recruited from 474 hospitals in 27 countries (19 HICs and 8 LMICs). Some 7508 patients (16·8 per cent) experienced at least one postoperative complication, equivalent to 11 664 complications in total. Using the ISOS classification, 5504 of 11 664 complications (47·2 per cent) were graded as mild, 4244 (36·4 per cent) as moderate and 1916 (16·4 per cent) as severe. Using Clavien–Dindo, 6781 of 11 664 complications (58·1 per cent) were graded as I or II, 1740 (14·9 per cent) as III, 2408 (20·6 per cent) as IV and 735 (6·3 per cent) as V. Agreement between classification systems was poor overall (ICC 0·41, 95 per cent c.i. 0·20 to 0·55), and in LMICs (ICC 0·23, 0·05 to 0·38) and HICs (ICC 0·46, 0·25 to 0·59). Conclusion Caution is recommended when using a treatment approach to grade complications in global surgery studies, as this may introduce bias unintentionally.

Background. Anticoagulants carry a significant risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. With the increase in use and availability of direct oral anticoagulants (“DOACs”) more data are available regarding the risks of these medications. With diverticular bleeds being common, and hospitalization associated with gastrointestinal bleed increasing 30-day mortality, it is paramount to better understand the potential risks of using DOACs in this population. Methods. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken, using the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL. Two reviewers independently searched the literature, and initial screening was performed through title and abstract reading. Search terms included “direct” AND “anticoagulant” AND “diverticular bleed” OR “diverticular hemorrhage”. The references of the selected studies were manually reviewed for any further relevant articles. Results. Literature search across the databases garnered 182 articles—157 unique abstracts after duplicate removal. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 6 studies were deemed relevant. The selected studies’ reference lists yielded no further relevant articles. Discussion. Across the 6 studies, the incidence of diverticular bleeding in patients using DOACs was extremely low. Of 23,990 patients taking DOACs identified from two separate institutions, only 60 were found to have diverticular hemorrhage. Similarly, among 15,056 patients with diverticular hemorrhage, only 246 (1.6%) among them were taking DOACs. Generally, the studies found no increased diverticular bleeding rate between patients taking DOACs and those who were taking other anticoagulants, such as warfarin, or the general population. The studies also did not find an increased risk of rebleeding with DOAC continuation. Conclusion. The evidence suggests the risk of diverticular bleed among DOAC users is equivocal to those not taking DOACs, and the overall incidence of diverticular bleed in the DOAC population is low. As it stands, the risk of thrombotic events from not starting DOACs apparently outweighs the risk of diverticular bleed.