OBJECTIVES: We investigated the incidence of hospital utilization for injuries and compared @entity4968 with other forms of injury. Previous studies have suggested poison control centers reduce health-care costs by decreasing hospital utilization. METHODS: We conducted a one-year retrospective study involving @entity1 treated for injuries at acute-care hospitals in Kentucky in 2008. We also compared inpatient discharges with discharges directly from the @entity341 ( @entity341 ) to determine hospitalization rates. The primary data sources were the Kentucky Hospital Billing database and the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center (KRPCC) database. RESULTS: In 2008, there were 377,642 hospital encounters for injuries in Kentucky. The most common mechanisms of injury were falls, struck by/against, motor vehicle traffic crashes, and overexertion. Three causes of injury were greater than one standard deviation above the mean in percentage of inpatient admissions: @entity4968 (41.3%), firearms (38.4%), and drowning (22.4%). During this same year, KRPCC reported 46,258 poisonings, with 76.5% of @entity1 managed outside of a health-care facility, 11.4% of @entity1 treated and released from the @entity341 , 7.1% of @entity1 admitted to inpatient care, 2.3% of @entity1 admitted to psychiatric care, and 2.7% lost to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Three causes of injury had the greatest percentage of @entity1 admitted for inpatient medical care-- @entity4968 , firearms, and drowning--suggesting a high level of severity in these injuries presenting to the @entity341 . We believe availability and use of a poison control center reduced hospital utilization for @entity4968 primarily by managing a large number of low-severity @entity1 outside of the hospital system.

Comparison of incidence of hospital utilization for XXXX and other injury types.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity341 :: ('MESH:D004630', 'Disease') :: ['ED', 'emergency department'] @entity4968 :: ('MESH:D011041', 'Disease') :: ['poisoning']
@entity4968 :: (MESH:D011041,Disease) :: ['poisoning']
