Ramroop S, Turner M C, Bynoe R, Garner M J, Clarke R, Krewski D, Francis M
South West Regional Health Authority, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.
West Indian Med J. 2009 Mar;58(2):118-23.
Injuries are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Injuries disproportionately affect people living in low and middle income countries, including the Caribbean; however little is known about the epidemiology of injuries in these areas. An accident and emergency (A&E) department injury surveillance system was established at the San Fernando General Hospital, Trinidad and Tobago, to address this important data gap.
A detailed overview of the objectives, data collection methods, and inherent strengths and limitations of this surveillance system are presented, along with results of an analysis of data collected during the first three years of operations (from 2002 to 2004).
Trained hospital staff collect a variety of injury/poisoning, demographic and clinical data on nearly 20,000 patients presenting each year with injury to the A&E Department. The total number of injuries in men was almost twice that in women. The majority of injuries were seen in those 25-44-years of age. Falls, other blunt force, stab/cut, traffic injury and poisoning represented the leading causes of injury. Nearly half of all the injuries occurred in the home, with the street/highway and work environments also accounting for an appreciable number of injuries. The majority of injuries were reported as unintentional.
Injuries represent an important population health and health services issue in South Trinidad. Data from the A&E Department injury surveillance system represent an important resource to inform evidence-based health policy decisions on injury prevention and public health resource allocation.
伤害是全球发病和死亡的一个重要原因。伤害对包括加勒比地区在内的低收入和中等收入国家的人群影响尤为严重；然而，人们对这些地区伤害的流行病学情况知之甚少。特立尼达和多巴哥圣费尔南多总医院建立了一个事故与急诊（A&E）部门伤害监测系统，以填补这一重要的数据空白。
本文详细概述了该监测系统的目标、数据收集方法以及其内在的优势和局限性，并给出了对运营头三年（2002年至2004年）收集的数据进行分析的结果。
训练有素的医院工作人员收集了每年到急诊部门就诊的近20000名受伤患者的各种伤害/中毒、人口统计学和临床数据。男性受伤总数几乎是女性的两倍。大多数伤害发生在25至44岁的人群中。跌倒、其他钝器伤、刺伤/切割伤、交通伤和中毒是主要的伤害原因。近一半的伤害发生在家中，街道/公路和工作场所也导致了相当数量的伤害。大多数伤害报告为意外伤害。
伤害是特立尼达南部一个重要的人群健康和卫生服务问题。急诊部门伤害监测系统的数据是为基于证据的伤害预防健康政策决策和公共卫生资源分配提供信息的重要资源。
