Digitally Enabled Discharge Quality After Neurosurgical Traumatic Brain Injury: A 10-Year Cohort from a Brazilian Public Tertiary Center.

Background/

Objectives

Safe discharge after neurosurgical traumatic brain injury (TBI) depends on documented counseling and appropriate referrals, yet real-world fidelity is uncertain in resource-constrained settings. We quantified discharge process quality and identified digitally actionable gaps.

Methods

The sample for this study was a retrospective cohort of 559 consecutive neurosurgical TBI patients discharged from a Brazilian public tertiary center (2012-2022). Data were abstracted from electronic health records. The primary outcome was documentation of warning sign counseling at discharge. Proportions are reported with exact Clopper-Pearson 95% confidence intervals.

Results

The median age was 66 years (IQR 47-79.5); 78.5% were male and most received care under the public health system. Subdural hematoma predominated; hematoma drainage was the most frequent procedure. Warning sign counseling was documented in 16.1% of cases (89/559; 95% CI 13.2-19.5), and no palliative care referrals were recorded.

Conclusions

A low baseline for a safety-critical discharge element exposes an immediately actionable target. Embedding discharge order sets with mandatory counseling fields in the EHR, clinical decision support prompts for palliative care screening and follow-up, and QR-coded patient handouts represent a pragmatic path to improve discharge quality and end-of-life readiness in the digital era.