Injury visits to emergency departments and hospital discharges in Rhode Island, 2005-2009: focus on falls.

The number of emergency department (ED) visits in the United States reached 119.2 million visits in 2007. 1 The largest percentage of these visits was for people with injury-related diagnoses (42.4 million visits), with falls accounting for 76% of these among adults age 65 and older. 2 Hospital discharge data for injury-related admissions reflects those patients visiting the ED whose injuries were so severe that they warranted admission. Beginning January 1, 2005, hospitals in Rhode Island have reported patient-level data on visits to EDs to the Rhode Island Department of Health. This report presents summary information for 2005 2009 on hospital ED visits and hospital in-patient discharges in Rhode Island for injuries and poisonings, together referred to as “injuries,” with emphasis on falls.