Incidence and treatment of hand and wrist injuries in Dutch emergency departments

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology, treatment and costs of hand and wrist injuries presenting to the Dutch ED. With increasing medical costs and crowding of emergency departments (ED), a more detailed description of emergency department attendance of hand and wrist in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of trauma and emergency surgery (Munich : 2007) 2022-12, Vol.48 (6), p.4327-4332
Main Authors: van Leerdam, Roderick H., Krijnen, Pieta, Panneman, Martien J., Schipper, Inger B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Costs
Critical Care Medicine
Emergency medical care
Emergency Medicine
Epidemiology
Fractures
Hands
Injuries
Intensive
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original
Original Article
Orthopedics
Sports Medicine
Surgery
Surgical Orthopedics
Traumatic Surgery
Wrist
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Summary:Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology, treatment and costs of hand and wrist injuries presenting to the Dutch ED. With increasing medical costs and crowding of emergency departments (ED), a more detailed description of emergency department attendance of hand and wrist injuries and their treatment may help to facilitate more adequate allocation of health care services. Methods The Dutch Injury Surveillance System obtained a total of 160,250 hand and wrist injuries. Patient characteristics, incidence rates, type of injury, treatment, and costs were described. Results The incidence of hand and wrist injuries in the Netherlands in 2016 was 11 per 1000 in males and 8 per 1000 in females. This is about 25% of all injuries presented at the ED. Of all hand injuries, only 3% was directly admitted to the hospital or received emergency surgery. Thirty percent did not need further treatment in the hospital. Conclusion The current data suggest that a substantial proportion of the hand and wrist injuries needed no subsequent specialized treatment. Although the severity of the injury could not be deduced from our data, the data suggest a ground for a more extensive role of primary health care (general) practitioners in the primary triage and treatment of hand and wrist injuries. This may reduce health care cost and help decongest the ED departments. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these preliminary conclusions. Level of evidence III.
ISSN:1863-9933
1863-9941
DOI:10.1007/s00068-021-01732-x