Implications of scanning recently head injured patients in general hospitals.

Increasing availability of computed tomography (CT) in general hospitals makes it appropriate to scan certain categories of acutely head injured patients in these hospitals. Policies should be devised locally indicating which types of patient should be scanned there, and what circumstances require transfer to the neurosurgical unit (NSU). Consideration must be given to the implications for training, staffing and other CT scanner commitments. The paper discusses these issues in the light of a study of the CT scans and surgical treatment of 1551 patients admitted to an NSU over a five year period, and provides models for discussion.