Pneumo/haemothorax Management (2023-2025)

  • In civilian populations, thoracic injuries occur in 60% of polytrauma cases, which include pneumothoraces and/or haemothoraces. South Africa has one of the highest post-injury mortality rates in the world.
  • This project assesses the safety and effectiveness of an existing accelerated, nurse-driven, physician-supervised clinical protocol to promote safe ambulatory discharge within 72 hours.
  • We hypothesize that an accelerated PTX-HTX protocol will expedite self-ambulatory discharge (within 72 hours) for a majority (≥80%) of patients who are eligible for the protocol, and PTX-HTX complication and/or infection rates will be equivalent to standard inpatient care.
  • Aim 1 – Define the demographics and injury characteristics of patients enrolled in the PTX-HTX protocol who experienced the best outcomes from the protocol.
  • Aim 2 – Evaluate relevant clinical endpoints of patients enrolled in the PTX-HTX protocol.
  • Aim 3 – Establish the rates of adverse events (non-infectious and infectious complications, re-admissions) of the PTX-HTX protocol. 
Scroll to Top