Assessing Community-Based Injury Prevention Services in U.S. Children's Hospitals
Nancy L Weaver1, Victoria Kortlandt2, Janice Williams3
1Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education, College for Public Health & Social Justice, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA.
Insights
Children's hospitals offer extensive injury prevention (IP) programming as a community service. Most IP services are community-based and independently managed, contributing to public health outreach.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
- Community Health
Background:
- Not-for-profit hospitals must report community benefit activities for tax exemption.
- Children's hospitals have a history of providing community injury prevention (IP) programming.
- This programming can inform broader public health outreach efforts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe injury prevention (IP) programming as a community service offered by children's hospitals in the U.S.
- To assess the scope and nature of IP outreach activities.
- To understand the operational and financial aspects of these programs.
Main Methods:
- An assessment was sent to IP specialists at 232 U.S. children's hospitals.
- Data were collected on the types and locations of IP programming.
- Information on program independence and budget responsibility was gathered.
Main Results:
- Nearly all surveyed hospitals offer injury prevention (IP) services.
- The majority of IP programming is community-based (60.3%), with 34.5% being hospital-based.
- Most IP units operate independently (60.3%) and manage their own budgets (71.8%).
Conclusions:
- Children's hospitals are actively engaged in community injury prevention.
- Integrating dissemination and implementation sciences can enhance hospital-based community services.
- These services have the potential to significantly impact public health outcomes.
Objective:
Not-for-profit hospitals are required to meet federal reporting requirements detailing their community benefit activities, which support their tax-exempt status. Children's hospitals have long provided community injury prevention (IP) programming and thus can inform public health outreach work in other areas. This work describes IP programming as a community service offered by children's hospitals in the U.S.
Methods:
The IP specialist at 232 US-based member institutions of the Children's Hospital Association were invited to complete an assessment of their hospital's IP outreach programming.
Results:
47.7 percent of hospitals request financial data from IP programming for tax reporting purposes. Almost all offer injury prevention (IP) services; the majority are in the community (60.3%) and 34.5% are hospital-based. Most IP units are independent (60.3%) and 71.8% are responsible for their own budgets.
Conclusions:
By integrating dissemination and implementation sciences and community health needs assessments, these findings can help advance community services provided by hospitals to impact public health.
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