Farming and ranching related injuries in Southern Idaho.

This research concerned agricultural injuries in Southern Idaho and their data was gathered to set a basis for improvements in the Idaho Time Sensitive Emergency (TSE) system. The injuries investigated were related to various agricultural activities such as handling horses, operating machinery, using ATVs, and handling hay bales.

Methodology

• The researchers obtained data from registries in Southern Idaho, focusing specifically on ICD-9-CM diagnoses related to agriculture for the year 2014.
• They included injuries known or likely to have occurred on properties intended for farming, ranching, animal care, or milk production, and relating to those activities.

Results

• The study involved 72 patients. The injuries were related to horses (31%), machinery (17%), ATVs (17%), and hay bales/haystacks (13%).
• The average age of the patients was 45, ranging between 3 and 82. A large majority of these patients, 82%, were male.
• The mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 13, with the range lying between 1 and 50.
• Transport to hospitals was either by air (31%) or ground (69%), taking an average time of 35 minutes (ranging from 9 to 132 minutes).
• The research recorded 1 in-hospital death and 4 on-scene fatalities.

Conclusions

• The study was successful in establishing baseline transport and injury data for the Idaho Time Sensitive Emergency (TSE) system.
• The findings from the study will be utilized by the TSE system to track the effectiveness of improvements aimed at increasing the quality of emergency care for agricultural injuries.