Potential predictors of hospital length of stay and hospital charges among patients with all-terrain vehicle injuries in rural Northeast Texas

Date

2020-01

Authors

Miller, Anastasia
Gallegly, Jeanie
Orsak, Gabriela
Huff, Sharon D.
Peters, Jo Ann
Murry, Jason
Ndetan, Harrison
Singh, Karan P.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) have become popular for recreation use in recent years. Texas has had more ATV related fatalities than any other state in the nation, with rural Northeast Texas having even higher rates of injuries. There is limited data examining the relationship between ATV injuries and the length of hospital stay, as well as hospital costs. This paper examines both issues in children as well as adults.

Methods: The regional trauma registry was analyzed for all ATV related injuries between January 2011- October 2016. Injury Severity Score, Glasgow Coma Scale and if they are seen at a Level I Trauma center are predictive for both hospital length of stay and charges.

Results: Length of Stay was predicted positively by Injury Severity Score, Emergency Department Respiration Rate and facility at which patients were treated and negatively by Glasgow Coma Scale. Hospital charges were predicted positively by age, Injury Severity Score, facility of treatment, means of transportation, and Emergency Department pulse and negatively by Glasgow Coma Scale.

Conclusions: The study found that vital signs can be useful in predicting length of stay and hospital charges. This study not only confirms the findings of other studies regarding what predictors can be used, but expands the research into rural traumatic injuries. It is hoped that this data can help contribute to the development of algorithms to predict which patients will be most likely to require resource intensive treatment.

Description

Keywords

All-terrain vehicles, Length of stay, Traumatic injury, Hospital charges, Rural health

Citation

This is the published version of an article that is available at https://jivresearch.org/jivr/index.php/jivr/article/view/1219/852. Recommended citation: Miller, A., Gallegly, J. D., Orsak, G., Huff, S. D., Peters, J. A., Murry, J., Ndetan, H., & Singh, K. P. (2019). Potential predictors of hospital length of stay and hospital charges among patients with all-terrain vehicle injuries in rural Northeast Texas. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 12(1), 55–62. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author’s permission.