Analysis of school injuries resulting in emergency department or hospital admission

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of school injuries resulting in eme rgency department (ED) visits, hospital admission, or death. Methods: Utah statewide school injuries from 1992 to 1996 were probabilistically linked t o statewide ED records (1996 only), inpatient hospital records (1992-1996); and death certificate records (1992-1996). Results: There were 43,881 scho ol injuries for the years 1992 through 1996. In 1996, 1,534 of 6,354 total school injuries (17.5%) resulted in ED evaluation. Between 1992 and 1996, 3 54 school injuries (0.8%) necessitated hospital admission. The overall rate s of school injuries (per 1,000 students) of primary (kindergarten-grade 6) and secondary (grades 7-12) school students requiring ED evaluation were 3 .29 and 3.28, respectively; for hospital admission, 0.165 and 0.139. Abbrev iated Injury Scale-1990 (AIS-90) regions identified in ED patients were the upper extremity (39.2%), face (20.8%), and lower extremity (17.1%), while AIS regions among inpatients were lower extremity (29.1%), upper extremity (26.6%), and head (22.6%). There were a total of 1,123 hospital days, and t otal charges of $2.16 million. The ED charges totaled $545,000. Median leng th of hospital stay was 1 day, and median hospital charge was $3,080. There were four fatalities. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the significance of school injuries and the need for interventions to prevent these injuries .