Managing and Using Injury Data

Dr Bernadette Matthews Manager Research & Injury Prevention

Injury Data

• Why use injury data? • What types of data are available? • Examples • Future directions

Why use injury data?

• Deaths & Injuries • Trends over time • Compare with

national and international data

• Risk factors

Describe the problem

• Council • Insurance • Coronial inquests

Response • Identify • Evaluate

Interventions

• Informed decisions • Facility design • Operational

issues

Prevention

Types of injury data

• Deaths – ABS – NCIS – LSV

• Injuries – Hospitalisations

• VISU – Incident report forms

• Facility

Examples

Crude Drowning Rate

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

Dro

wni

ng d

eath

s pe

r 100

,000

pop

ulat

ion

Year

NSWVICQLDSAWATASNational

Victorian Drowning Rate

1.38

1.05 1.16 1.10

0.86 0.87

0.96 0.91 0.78 0.69

0.68 0.64 0.67 0.61 0.66

0.0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

Dro

wni

ng d

eath

s/ 1

00,0

00 p

opul

atio

n

Year

1.49

0.68

1.74

0.99

1.57

2.42

1.35

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS National

Rat

e pe

r 100

,000

pop

ulat

ion

Drowning Rate 2006-2011

40 Deaths

104 Hospitalised

815 Beach Rescues

1,927 First Aid Treatments by Lifeguards/Lifesavers

Injury Pyramid

Injuries in Public Swimming Pools

• Pilot study results

Background

• Most studies report drowning fatalities in public and residential swimming pools

• Little information about non-fatal drowning incidents and other major/ minor incidents in commercial aquatic facilities

• Information to help improve the defined role of the lifeguard, facility design issues and operational issues covered by the GSPO

• Study commenced 2005

Aims

The aims of the pilot study were to describe: • Major and minor incidents that occur at public

swimming pools • Locations within pools where the incidents

occur • The type of medical treatment provided

Methodology

• 18 facilities – 12 metro (9 year round, 3 seasonal) – 6 regional (3 year round, 3 seasonal)

• Major/ minor incident reports collected between July 1 and Dec 31 2004 – 6 months data from year round pools – Seasonal pools provided all reports within

that period in which they were open

Results

Rate of Injury/Incidents

• Total number of incidents = 1715 • Incidence rate of 142 per 100,000 pool

visitations • Similar incidence rate in metro vs regional

pools (144 vs 128) • Greater rate of incidents at year round vs

seasonal pools (145 vs 84)

Age and Gender

0

50

100

150

200

250

Inci

de

nts

(fr

eq

ue

ncy

)

Age (yrs)

FemaleMale

Types of Injuries/Incidents

• Injuries more frequent to the extremities – feet (29%), hands (10%), face (23%), head (4%)

• Nature of injuries typically – Minor cuts (45%), bruises (12%), grazes (10%),

nosebleeds (16%)

• Cuts to foot (23%) most common single injury

Activities and Cause

• Individuals usually involved in: – Water recreation (45%) – Swimming lessons (26%)

• Incidents often caused by: – Collisions – Falls – Thermal effects (blood noses)

Locations of Incidents

0.05.0

10.015.020.025.030.035.040.045.050.0

Perc

enta

ge

Location

Treatment

• Wound management (45%) • ICE (25%) • Combination of treatments (14%) • Referred elsewhere (4%) • Rescues (2%) • Oxygen (1.5%) • Ambulance (0.3%)

Treatment Time

• Treatment time ranged from 5-110 minutes • Average treatment time 22 minutes

Discussion

• Incidence rate similar to a previous study in Vic, greater than study in WA – difficult to compare studies due to differences

in methodology • unclear from these studies how/ whether all data

collected • different time frames of data collection

Discussion

• Lack of gender differences may reflect – participation rates – lack of data

• Age differences may reflect – participation rates – types of activities undertaken and behaviour

patterns

Discussion

• A quarter of incidents occurred during supervised swimming lessons

• Types of incidents provide an indication of the activities of lifeguards and the time spent in these activities (distraction from other activities)

• How does this impact on training and staffing?

Strengths and Limitations

• First study to provide detailed information about incidents in public swimming pools

• Missing / non-reported data due to lack of consistency in information collected on report forms

• Missing data about age and gender • Lack of information about those visiting

centre for comparisons/ better determination of incidence rate

• Only six months of data collected- missing part of the Summer period

Getting the most from your data

• Decide what to collect and why? • Who is the information for and how will it be

used? • Ensure quality of data collected

– Complete forms – Key information required

• Staff training in completion of forms – Create understanding of importance of quality

data

Future Directions

• State-wide facility incident database – Long-term data collection

• What data available? – Monitor trends – Standardised analysis & reporting – Industry report

• Top level findings (no individual facilities named) • Individual facility report

– Comparison to grouped state data

– Funding opportunities

Future Directions

• State-wide facility incident database – Collaboration with academic institutions – Ethics and confidentiality

• De-identified data – Collection of information from smaller facilities

40 Deaths

104 Hospitalised

849 Aquatic Rescues

3,608 First Aid Treatments by Lifeguards/Lifesavers

Injury Pyramid