Small Group Discussion 3.2: Outline of a Research Article
The Use of Hypothermia as a Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury

1. Introduction and core story elements
a. What is the overview of the purpose of the study and the problem discussed?
i. Research has shown that hypothermia has neuroprotective effects and might be an effective source of treatment for patients with head injuries. When discussing the treatment of patients with traumatic brain injuries, hypothermia is a controversial issue. The purpose of this study was to compare existing research on the use of hypothermia with TBI patients to determine if it is an adequate form of treatment.
b. Is the problem clearly stated? . Yes. Hypothermia has been shown to have …show more content…

What framework did the researchers use? . Literature Review
i. Comparison Study ii. Meta-Analysis
a. What are the key variables? . Common variables 1. Intracranial pressure (ICP) 2. Cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) 3. Arterial blood pressure 4. Continuous temperature 5. Management appropriate for traumatic ii. Cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP)
1. Time from injury to cooling
2. Cooling temperature
3. Duration of cooling
4. Method
a. What research method and design was used?
i. Literature search of RCTs on hypothermia
b. Was the method and design well described? . No, the researcher states that she searched databases for keywords within a range of dates and in English. However, when it comes to interpreting and analyzing the outcomes of each of the studies, there is little explanation of how the findings were analyzed.
c. What was the sampling plan? . Database search
d. How many participants? . 946 patients total
i. Average of 157.67 patients per study ii. Largest studied 392, Smallest studied 30
e. Who are the participants? . Patients were chosen on admission to the hospital. Patients were accepted if they had a closed head injury and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 3-8
i. Patients were ages 16 to 65 with the exception of the study by Marion et al. (1997) which accepted patients up to 75 years old and by Shiozaki et al. (2001) which included one patient younger than 16 years ii. Significantly more men