Impact and publishing: your journals need you!

Abstract

The impact of a paper can be, and is, measured in many ways. This month in 360 we feature a paper from The Lancet which should be read by every orthopaedic surgeon involved in trauma care.1 This is potentially a game-changing article, a randomised control trial suggesting that one of the major “advances” in trauma care may in fact not be an advance at all. The authors conducted a technically and logistically challenging study, and randomised patients to either ATLS standard of care or immediate trauma CT scanning. It is a miraculous study with an interesting result. Whole-body CT scanning trauma patients is no better than ATLS-directed imaging in experienced hands, yet it poses a significant radiation risk. But who will read it? The paper is published in The Lancet , where only a handful …