Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Health Administration

College

College of Health Professions

First Advisor

Kit N. Simpson

Second Advisor

Daniel L. Brinton

Third Advisor

Kathryn Cristaldi King

Abstract

Children between the ages of 0 to 19 are treated in South Carolina emergency rooms (ER) and hospitals for unintentional injuries at an alarming rate which contributes to high medical cost and high mortality and morbidity rate. The objective of the study is to examine ER visits and hospital discharge data for pediatric patients in South Carolina by county to identify trauma types for unintentional injuries, cost, distribution by high-risk populations and by rural or urban classification to determine appropriate interventions. This is a quantitative study using retrospective analysis of archival data from ER visits and hospital discharge data for South Carolina by county for ages 0 to 19. HCUP databases and ICD-10 E-codes is used to identify study population for years 2016, 2017 and 2018. The mean and standard deviation for total charges and ER payments remained static over the three-years. Medicaid (55.1%) was the top payor across all payors. Males represented over 55% for each year studied. Blacks (48.2%) had a higher rate of injury events than all other race. The most common injury events were poisonings 10,467 (25.4%), natural/environmental 9,531 (23.1%) and falls 7,702 (18.7%). Counties with the highest risk percentage and most frequent injury events were Chester, Cherokee, Orangeburg, Williamsburg, Fairfield, Beaufort, and Georgetown counties.

Rights

All rights reserved. Copyright is held by the author.

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