TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Analysis of agriculture-related life-threatening injuries presenting to emergency departments of rural generalist hospitals in Southern Queensland
JO  - Emergency medicine Australasia
A1  - Pinidiyapathirage, Janani
A1  - Kitchener, Scott
A1  - McNamee, Sarah
A1  - Wynter, Sacha
A1  - Langford, Jack
A1  - Doyle, Ashley
A1  - McMahon, Andrew
SP  - 587
EP  - 592
VL  - 31
IS  - 4
N2  - OBJECTIVE: 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. <br><br>METHODS: 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. <br><br>RESULTS: 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. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: 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.<br><br>© 2018 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1742-6731
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.13215
ID  - ref1
ER  -