A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.

StudyThe western journal of emergency medicine· Jul 2026

A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.

Jude C Luke, Rebecca N Kubick, Heidi J Sucharew … David O Thompson

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Musculoskeletal ImagingStudyPrognosisQ2IF 2.2

Head computed tomography use for low-risk trauma decreased after a quality-improvement campaign.

A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.

Jude C Luke … David O Thompson

The western journal of emergency medicine · Jul 2026 · Q2 in General Medicine

Background

While computed tomography (computed tomography) is invaluable for detecting life-threatening injuries in the emergency department (emergency department), the literature shows increasing use of head computed tomography and cervical spine computed tomography in low-risk trauma patients without a corresponding rise in injuries identified.

Methods

This prospective quality improvement intervention involved two EDs within one healthcare network: an academic trauma center and a community hospital.

n = 100 patients

Results

campaign led to less head computed tomography use in low-risk trauma

RR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

Use of cervical spine computed tomography for low-risk trauma decreased from 3.36 to 2.83 per 100 patients at the academic site (RR = 0.84, 95% CI, 0.78-0.91, P < .001) and from 4.31 to 3.49 at the community site (RR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.75-0.87, P < .001).

More results

All-cause computed tomography use decreased at the academic site from 53.06 to 47.91 computed tomography exams per 100 patients [RR = 0.90, 95% CI, 0.89-0.92, P < .001] but remained unchanged at the community site.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

A structured quality improvement campaign led to a significant reduction in the use of head and cervical spine computed tomography in low-risk trauma patients.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings provide a framework for promoting evidence-based imaging practice.

A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.

A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.

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