Clinically important head injuries after head trauma in children.

摘要

Is clinical decision making an art or a science? In The Lancet today, Nathan Kuppermann and colleagues describe the development of a clinical prediction rule for identifying children at very low risk of clinically important traumatic brain injuries for whom CT imaging could be obviated. This report is part of the work of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). These researchers have not only addressed an important clinical question, but have also provided a powerful example of the science behind clinical decision making.