Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17018670›Full record

ArticleInjury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention2006

Unspecified falls among youth: predictors of coding specificity in the emergency department.

A K Kaida, J Marko, B Hagel, P Lightfoot, W Sevcik, B H Rowe

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

A K KaidaDepartment of Healthcare and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
J Marko
B Hagel
P Lightfoot
W Sevcik
B H Rowe
Capital District Health Authority · CAUniversity of Alberta · CAUniversity of British Columbia · CAUniversity of Calgary · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDeficiencies in emergency department (ED) charting is a common international problem. While unintentional falls account for the largest proportion of injury related ED visits by youth, insufficient charting details result in more than one third of these falls being coded as "unspecified". Non-specific coding compromises the utility of injury surveillance data.

objectiveTo re-examine the ED charts of unspecified youth falls to determine the possibility of assigning more specific codes.

methods400 ED charts for youth (aged 0-19 years) treated at four EDs in an urban Canadian health region between 1997 and 1999 and coded as "Other or unspecified fall" (ICD-9 E888) were randomly selected. A structured chart review was completed and a blinded nosologist recoded the cause of injury using the extracted data. Differences in coding specificity were compared with the original data, and logistic regression was undertaken to examine variables that predicted assignment of a specific E-code.

resultsA more specific code was assigned to 46% of cases initially coded as unspecified. Of these, 73% were recoded as "Slips, trips, and stumbles" (E885), which still lacks the specificity required for injury prevention planning; 2% of charts had no fall documented. Multivariate analysis revealed that dichotomized injury severity (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.75 (95% confidence interval, 1.11 to 2.78)), arrival at the ED by ambulance (adjusted OR = 5.41 (1.07 to 27.0)), and the availability of nurse's notes or triage forms, or both, in the chart (adjusted OR = 3.75 (2.17 to 6.45)) were the strongest predictors of a more specific E-code assignment.

conclusionsDeficiencies in both chart documentation and coding specificity contribute to the use of non-specific E-codes. More comprehensive triage coding, improved chart documentation, and alternative methods of data collection in the acute care setting are required to improve ED injury surveillance initiatives.

Indexed as

Accidental FallsAdolescentAlbertaChildChild, PreschoolEmergency Service, HospitalEpidemiologic MethodsFemaleForms and Records ControlHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaleMedical RecordsUrban Health

Identifiers

PMID17018670
PMCPMC2563468
OpenAlexW1973475092

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.