Related Experiment Videos
Injury surveillance in the ED: design, implementation, and analysis
Ruth A Brenner1, Peter C Scheidt, Maryann W Rossi
1Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. BrennerR@nih.gov
The American Journal of Emergency Medicine
|May 7, 2002
Summary
Implementing a city-wide injury surveillance system in emergency departments (EDs) for young children revealed challenges in data collection. Standardizing documentation is crucial for comprehensive nonfatal injury monitoring across multiple hospitals.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Injury Prevention
Background:
- Comprehensive injury surveillance is essential for public health.
- Uniform data collection methods across multiple hospitals are needed for population-based injury surveillance.
- Emergency department (ED) data can be a valuable source for injury surveillance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the design and implementation of a city-wide, multihospital injury surveillance system for young children.
- To identify challenges and provide recommendations for future multihospital ED injury surveillance systems.
- To assess the feasibility and representativeness of ED-based injury data collection.
Main Methods:
- A city-wide surveillance system was established in the United States, covering 10 hospitals.
- Data were collected for all injury-related ED visits among residents under 3 years of age over a one-year period.
- Information was abstracted from ED logs and patient records.
Main Results:
- A total of 2,938 injury-related ED visits were identified (132.7 visits/1,000 person-years).
- Injury-related visits were reliably ascertained from ED logs.
- A systematic sample of injured children was representative of the total injured population for most variables.
- Incomplete documentation of injury circumstances and data element standardization were identified as key issues.
Conclusions:
- Multihospital ED injury surveillance is feasible and can provide valuable population-based data.
- Standardization of data elements and improved documentation of injury circumstances are necessary for enhancing surveillance systems.
- Lessons learned from this system can inform the design of similar initiatives in other locations.