Standardized Protocol for Chest Tube Management for Trauma Patients Significantly Decreases Complications

Table 2

Patient outcomes comparing precohort and postcohort of the chest tube management protocol.

	Precohort (n = 43)	Postcohort (n = 100)	value
Hospital LOS (SD); Min-Max^†	11.6 (9.9); 2–45	9.7 (10.5); 1–50	0.02
Persistent H/PTX^‡	30% (13)	15% (15)	0.04
Recurrent H/PTX^‡	7% (3)	7% (7)	0.99
Required further surgical intervention^‡	37% (16)	14% (14)	0.003

LOS = length of stay; SD = standard deviation; H/PTX = hemothorax or pneumothorax. ^†Mann–Whitney U-tests were used to compare quantitative variables, and ^‡Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare the categorized variables across all groups. These values are given as the mean and standard deviation, with a range of minimum to maximum values. The remaining values are given as a percentage of the specific category.