gms | German Medical Science

Background: Sport is one of the defining cultural pastimes and interests in Australia. Injuries to the hand sustained from participation in sport are thought to be common and costly, although the epidemiology and the true scale of the economic burden in Australia are unknown.

Objective: To provide an accurate estimate of health-care system costs attributed to acute hand injuries sustained from participation in sport; medical and outpatient resource use; and frequency of diagnostic disagreement between the Emergency Department (ED) and specialist clinician.

Materials and Methods: Cases were identified from a cost-of-illness study conducted at two large EDs during one financial year period (2014-15). Subsequent financial year data (2016-17) will be used to calculate total inpatient and outpatient costs. Data mining of electronic medical records will be completed for identified cases to extract variables under investigation.

Results: Findings to be presented will include epidemiological, demographic (including injury type, location and mechanism), and cost data. In addition, the incidence of diagnosis disagreement between the ED and specialist clinician and failure to attend appointment rates will also be presented.

Conclusions: The identification of epidemiological and cost data may enable the recommendation of more efficient and cost-effective patient care pathways; creation of advanced-scope of practice roles for hand therapists in EDs; and injury prevention interventions.