Igiene e sanità pubblica
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Jan 2007
[Injury-related Emergency Department visits in Tuscany (Italy)].
The frequency of injuries underscores the need for planning and implementing efficient injury surveillance systems. Emergency Departments represent the preferred source of data on injuries but information regarding emergency department visits is not always available. We examined the feasibility of utilizing emergency department data to monitor the occurrence of injuries in Tuscany. ⋯ In 2004, home injuries were the most frequent type of injury (7.5%) followed by motor vehicle accidents (6.9%) and workplace injuries (5%). We estimated 6836 hospital admissions for the year 2004, while only 4800 admissions were registered in the discharge abstract database in the same year. Computerisation of attendance records and improvement in codification of data are a good starting point in utilizing emergency department data for epidemiological surveillance of injuries.