Pediatric injuries in emergency room, Ramathibodi Hospital.

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to analyze the epidemiological data of child injuries from the computerized data system of the emergency room at Ramathibodi Hospital from June 1995 to May 1996 and assess the accuracy of triage system for child injury cases. Among 14,427 pediatric patients, 1,023 patients (7%) were injured. Most were under 5 years of age (48%), and most were male. Twenty-five per cent of cases were triaged as true emergency cases. Twelve per cent were disposed on an admission or referral by physicians. The negative predictive value of triage system to classify as a non-urgent was 91 per cent. Common causes of injury included falls (38%), inanimate force (19%), transportation (14%), and animal bite (12%). Older age group had significantly more severe injuries than younger (p = 0.002). However, only the transportation injuries were significantly more severe than other types (p = 0.003). The present ER-based injury surveillance system is useful to describe the basic epidemiology of pediatric injuries and to evaluate the triage system. However, for injury prevention purposes, the injury surveillance system should include more data of injury circumstances, associated environment and products.