TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1990//
TI  - Coding external causes of injury (E-codes) in Maryland hospital discharges 1979-88: a statewide study to explore the uncoded population
JO  - American journal of public health
A1  - Marganitt, B.
A1  - MacKenzie, Ellen J.
A1  - Smith, Gordon C. S.
A1  - Damiano, A. M.
SP  - 1463
EP  - 1466
VL  - 80
IS  - 12
N2  - We examined the trends in hospital discharge E-coding in Maryland over a 10-year period. The overall proportion of E-coded discharges has increased from 40 percent in 1979 to 55 percent in 1988. E-coding was lower in the severely injured, the elderly, and patients with long hospital stays. Our findings demonstrate that E-code reporting varies because of the limited number of data fields available for coding of discharge diagnoses. Universal, systematic reporting of E-codes in hospital discharge data is essential if these data are to provide critically needed information about nonfatal injuries. Hospital discharge data formats should contain separate fields for E-codes and the use of these codes, we believe, should be mandated.
LA  - 
SN  - 0090-0036
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -