NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Neurological Society of India has prepared a neurotrauma care advisory for the patients of traumatic brain injury, allowing them to avail medical care at the comfort of home.
According to doctors, the guidelines will drop the mortality rate in such cases which stands at 50% currently. With the guidelines, the care of patients returning home after receiving hospital treatment after serious head injuries will be better and also, would eliminate the scope of negligence in the care of such patients, AIIMS officials said.
As per the officials, the advisory is in pictorial format that would explain to the family members how they can take care of the patients. The advisory is available in 12 Indian languages, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. A copy of this has been handed over to President Draupadi Murmu.
Dr Deepak Gupta, Professor, JPN Trauma Center, AIIMS, said the Neuro Trauma Home Care Advisory has been prepared to improve the care of head injury patients.
“This includes manual care on tracheostomy care, ryle’s tube feeding, urinary catheter care, daily skin and pressure ulcer care, rehabilitation exercises, prevention of DVT, nutrition and medications. Family members can easily understand by looking at the pictures in the advisory and meet out required care,” he explained.
According to doctors, 80% of the patients in the country with head injuries are discharged or referred to another hospital for initial treatment or tracheostomy assistance. But in many cases, the infection spreads in the patient during home care due to lack of caretaking guidelines, resulting in patient deaths.
“Before sending the patients home, the family members are given information about the care, but due to technical reasons a mistake is made. This mistake can give infection to the patient. To stop this, 12 members prepared to implement the Swadeshi project,” a doctor commented.
‘Lack of awareness causing deaths ’
According to doctors, 80% of the patients with head injuries are discharged or referred to another hospital for initial treatment or tracheostomy assistance. But in many cases, the infection spreads in the patient during home care due to lack of caretaking guidelines, resulting in deaths.