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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Stacey Knight, MStat, Michael Ely, MHRM, Helal Mobasher, PhD, and J Michael Dean, MD, MBA. Intermountain Injury Control Research Center, University of Utah, 615 Arapeen Drive, Suite 202, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, 801.585.9157, stacey.knight@hsc.utah.edu
OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of states that are currently collecting emergency medical service (EMS) data at the state-level and to determine the number of states that are using each of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Uniform Pre-Hospital EMS Data Elements, especially the number of states that capture the injury data elements. METHODS: Surveys of state EMS directors were conducted. These survey not only addressed the question of whether the state collected EMS data but also the usage of the collected data. Data dictionaries from 33 states were analyzed to determine the compliance with the NHTSA Data Set. RESULTS: State-level EMS data collection is occurring in 32 (64%) states and 16 (32%) states are developing or implementing an EMS data collection system. Analysis of the data dictionaries indicates that an average of 57 of the 81 NHTSA data elements are being collected. Injury data elements are captured at varying levels; the cause of injury is captured by all the state, the use of safety equipment by 94%, the revised trauma score by 42%, and the injury intent by 36% of the states. Furthermore, 18 EMS directors indicated that data were being used for prevention/safety programs, and 9 indicated the data were used for surveillance purposes. CONCLUSIONS: Currently only 21% of states capture all of the injury data elements in the NHTSA Data Set. However, 58% of them use the data for prevention/safety programs, indicating that the use of EMS data for injury prevention efforts is promising.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: EMS/Trauma, Injury Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.