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Julia F. Costich, PhD, JD, Kentucky Injury Prevention & Research Center, University of Kentucky, 333 Waller Ave., Suite 202, Lexington, KY 40504, 859-257-4954, julia.costich@uky.edu
Public health systems research is an emerging field that can help investigators identify relationships among public health system components that contribute to or protect against the risk of injury. We assess the nature of public health systems in injury and the contribution of public health systems research using the Haddon matrix in a series of injury events that includes highway vehicle crashes, off-road crashes, serious falls, poisoning, engulfment, electrocution, and other causes. Public health agencies have the greatest potential for impact in the pre-event phase, while emergency services and personal health care providers are most active post-event, for obvious reasons. Analysis identifies relationships among components of the public health system that present opportunities for injury prevention, including ways to avoid repeating the same injury to the same individual as well as similarly situated persons. The path from public health to broader environmental factors leads clearly through public health advocacy, legislation and regulation. Because so much injury morbidity is preventable, the risk abatement and health promotion roles of the public health system take on importance that is far greater than their current proportional funding and prestige. The important effects of agent and physical environment on the injury event point to a strong role for public health advocacy in a system that improves the public’s health.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Injury, Public Health Research
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.