INJURY PREVENTION INSTRUCTION IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Study objective: To describe preventable pediatric injuries and the pr oportion receiving documented injury prevention instruction by emergen cy department personnel. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: A rural Level I trauma center Types of participants: All injured child ren aged birth through 15 years presenting to our hospital from Januar y 1, 1987, through December 31, 1987. Measurements and main results: D uring the study period, 1,449 injuries presented to the trauma center. Motor vehicle crashes caused the largest number of preventable injuri es (71), although the proportion of preventable injuries was higher am ong poisonings, burns, and pedestrian-automobile collisions. Among the 1,313 patients available to ED personnel at discharge, injury prevent ion instruction was indicated in 27% of cases but documented in the me dical record in only 3%. ED personnel were more likely to document ins truction for preventing poisoning than other causes of injury. Conclus ion: Most preventable pediatric injuries treated and released by ED pe rsonnel do not receive documented injury prevention instruction.