Three times the injuries among occasional wood cutters compared to professional loggers: sample of emergency rooms in central and northern Wisconsin.

Background: No reliable statistics exist for injury rates among occasional woodcutters as opposed to professional loggers. Study objectives were to assess woodcutting injuries seen in emergency rooms and identify risk factors.

Methods: Individuals with woodcutting related injuries were identified in 14 emergency and urgent care departments in central and northern Wisconsin.

Assessment of personal protective equipment use among Midwestern farmers.

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is readily available and widely recommended, yet usage among agricultural workers is largely unknown.

Methods: A mail survey of 2,483 farmers in six Midwestern states with telephone follow-up addressed PPE usage related to sun exposure, noise abatement, chain saw usage, welding and metal work, handling of large animals in and out of confinement facilities, feed handling, manure storage facilities, and mixing and applying chemicals. Summary statistics of survey responses were compiled.

Short- and long-term survival after cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: The objective was to evaluate the effect of patient characteristics and other factors on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) survival, hospital discharge survival and function, and long-term survival.

Methods: All patients 18 years and older experiencing in-hospital CPR from December 1983 through November 1991 at Marshfield Medical Center (Marshfield Clinic and adjoining St Joseph's Hospital), Marshfield, Wis, were selected. We performed a retrospective medical record review and augmented these data with updated vital status information.

Relationship of gender to characteristics of patients referred to a Rural Wisconsin Addiction Treatment Unit.

The records of admissions to the inpatient unit of a Rural Wisconsin Addiction Treatment Unit were reviewed, in 1995, for the prior four years (January 1, 1990 through December 31, 1993). After approval by the Institutional Review Board of the Marshfield Medical Research Foundation, the combined medical records were abstracted for presenting information related to social, psychological and medical components. During the four years of observation, there were 821 unique admissions of which 555 (67.

A self-assessment of Wisconsin prehospital provider needs.

Introduction: The pressures facing emergency medical services (EMS) in Wisconsin and their effects on the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care were not known by the Wisconsin EMS Board. In an effort to assess these pressures and the needs of the emergency medical services in the State as perceived by the services, the Board undertook a survey of the EMS providers in Wisconsin.

Methods: A survey instrument was developed and approved by the EMS Board and distributed to all of the licensed emergency medical services in Wisconsin.