Immediate Inpatient Hospitalizations

Overview

Work-Related Immediate Inpatient Hospitalization Surveillance System

A work-related immediate inpatient hospitalization is a work-related injury that leads to an inpatient hospital admission within one day of the injury event (based on day, not 24 hours).

Cases are identified through a multi-step linking process using two data sources:

Washington workers' compensation (WC) data
Washington's hospital discharge data—the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS).

Public health importance of Work-Related Immediate Inpatient Hospitalization Surveillance

Immediate inpatient hospitalizations resulting from work-related injuries represent a small proportion of injuries, but are severe, costly, and preventable injuries that indicate a need for intervention.

Acute traumatic injuries account for a high proportion of immediate inpatient hospitalizations. Employers throughout the United States are required to report work-related hospitalizations to their state or OSHA regional office. Understanding more about these hospitalizations may be valuable both for prevention efforts and for assessing the completeness of employer reporting.

Purpose & Operations of Work-Related Immediate Inpatient Hospitalization Surveillance

Immediate Inpatient Hospitalizations data allows for:

Quantifying prevalence by industry & occupation of work-related injuries and illnesses that lead to immediate inpatient hospitalizations.
Identifying high-risk occupations/industries and health disparities/risks.
Aiding in targeting prevention efforts.

Employers, policymakers, and health promotion practitioners can use the study findings to target and prioritize prevention efforts for injuries most likely to cause an work-related immediate hospitalization.

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