|
Abstract
|
The annual incidence of hand injuries in England is estimated to be 110 per 100,000 population (Manley et al., 2019), accounting for a notable proportion of attendances at Accident and Emergency Departments. Many of these may be preventable. Despite health and safety regulations reducing the incidence of agricultural and industrial injuries, preventable injuries in other settings occur with unknown frequency.
We aimed to define the term 'preventable hand injury' and, based on this, to undertake a prospective pilot study of consecutive patients with new wrist or hand injuries presenting to a dedicated hand unit in England over a 2-month period, to assess the incidence and context of such injuries, and to outline prevention strategies. This pilot study assesses feasibility and refines methods for a larger national audit of preventable hand injuries.
We defined preventable hand injury as 'an injury to that hand (e.g. laceration, abrasion) that is innate to the activity being performed and that would not have occurred if reasonable human interventions were in place'. Sports-based injuries are excluded as there is an inherent risk of playing sport, and, in general, the benefits of sport outweigh the risks to the wrist and hand. Alcohol and narcotics-related injuries are also excluded as it is unlikely that anything except extreme measures, such as banning alcohol or driving, could prevent these injuries. Burn injuries could be considered preventable, but they were excluded from this study as management is by separate units...
Language: en |