University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
Griffith University Rural Stream Campus, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
Emerg Med Australas. 2019 Aug;31(4):587-592. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13215. Epub 2018 Dec 11.
Agricultural industries are among the most dangerous in Australia posing significant public health risks. This study analyses the nature and management of agriculture-related injuries presenting to EDs in selected hospitals in Southern Queensland.
Data on agricultural injury presentations over a 6 month period was collected at four rural hospitals by a dedicated onsite hospital data coordinator. Additionally, in two of the participating hospitals all injury presentations over the same 6 month period were recorded. A pre-tested survey instrument, modified for rural settings and designed and developed to export the abstracted data using an iPad application was used as the survey tool.
The incidence of agriculture-related injuries was 11% of all injuries, most were males (73%), averaging 40 years. On presentation, 66.5% (n = 234) were categorised as imminently or potentially life threatening with 44% of those patients presenting to hospital ED >3 h after the injury. Large animals were more commonly reported as involved in the aetiology of the presenting injury, particularly using horses and handling cattle.
Agricultural injuries are a significant group of primary care presentations to rural hospitals and training and resourcing for rural hospitals should reflect this. A better understanding of common injury types can lead to efficient allocation of available resources in rural hospitals and potentially improve ED practices. The delay in presentation must be considered in response planning both by farmers and hospital EDs.
农业产业在澳大利亚是最危险的行业之一，对公共健康构成重大威胁。本研究分析了昆士兰州南部选定医院急诊科（ED）收治的与农业相关的损伤的性质和管理。
由一名专门的现场医院数据协调员在四家农村医院收集了为期 6 个月的农业损伤就诊数据。此外，在其中两家参与医院，记录了同期所有的损伤就诊情况。采用一种经过预测试的调查工具，该工具针对农村环境进行了修改，并设计和开发了一种使用 iPad 应用程序导出摘要数据的应用程序，作为调查工具。
农业相关损伤的发生率占所有损伤的 11%，大多数为男性（73%），平均年龄为 40 岁。就诊时，66.5%（n=234）被归类为即刻或潜在危及生命，其中 44%的患者在受伤后 3 小时以上才到医院急诊科就诊。大型动物更常被报道为导致损伤的病因，特别是马和牛的处理。
农业损伤是农村医院初级保健就诊的一个重要群体，农村医院的培训和资源配置应反映这一点。更好地了解常见损伤类型可以在农村医院有效分配现有资源，并可能改善急诊科的治疗实践。在制定应对计划时，必须考虑到农民和医院急诊科的就诊延迟。
