Prehospital Protocols Reducing Long Spinal Board Use Are Not Associated with a Change in Incidence of Spinal Cord Injury.

Many emergency medical services (EMS) agencies have de-emphasized or eliminated the use of long spinal boards (LSB) for patients with possible spinal injury. We sought to determine if implementation of spinal motion restriction (SMR) protocols, which reduce LSB use, was associated with an increase in spinal cord injury (SCI). This retrospective observational study includes EMS encounters from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015 submitted by SMR-adopting ground-based agencies to a state EMS database with hospital discharge data.

Improving the Continuum of Care by Bridging the Gap between Prehospital and Hospital Discharge Data through Stepwise Deterministic Linkage.

: To describe the process, benefits, and challenges of linking Arizona's prehospital registry to hospital discharge data. Data were queried from the Arizona Prehospital Information and Emergency Medical Services Registry System (AZ-PIERS) and the Arizona Hospital Discharge Database (HDD) for the calendar year 2015. To maximize the number of matched records, the databases were deterministically linked in 17 steps using different combinations/variations of patient personal identifiers.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Rates of Traumatic Injury in Arizona, 2011-2012.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the rates of traumatic injury among five racial/ethnic groups in Arizona and to identify which mechanisms and intents of traumatic injury were predominant in each group.

Methods: We obtained 2011 and 2012 data on traumatic injury from Arizona's trauma registry and data on mortality from Arizona's death registry. We calculated location- and age-adjusted rates (aRs) of traumatic injury and rates of mortality per 100,000 Arizona residents and rate ratios (RRs) for each racial/ethnic group.

Association of insurance status with health outcomes following traumatic injury: statewide multicenter analysis.

Introduction: Recognizing disparities in definitive care for traumatic injuries created by insurance status may help reduce the higher risk of trauma-related mortality in this population. Our objective was to understand the relationship between patients' insurance status and trauma outcomes.

Methods: We collected data on all patients involved in traumatic injury from eight Level I and 15 Level IV trauma centers, and four non-designated hospitals through Arizona State Trauma Registry between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011.

Public health surveillance for coccidioidomycosis in Arizona.

Coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever is a fungal disease that occurs primarily in the southwestern United States. Of the estimated 150,000 U. S.