Emergency Department Community Needs Assessment Indicators!
This is a set of categorizations of ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes that allow organizations with emergency department treat-and-release data to determine the needs of the community by measuring the rates of various hospital emergency department records to provide an insight into community, especially public health, resources that can help to improve the health of communities.
For example, if a given hospital were to have high rates of gun-shot related violence based on emergency department visits and hospital admissions (above the mean established for inner city public hospitals), then the community would be able to recognize the need for strengthening violence prevention interventions.
If a given hospital had high rates of emergency department visits for asthma attacks in low-income children (above the state hospital's mean), then the community could have quantitative evidence that they should develop increased resources that allow for pediatric primary care.
An initial set of resources that can be informed by these "ED CNA Indicators" are:
- smoking session programs
- mental health programs
- substance abuse programs
- violence preventions programs
- domestic abuse prevention programs
- injury prevention programs
- obesity-related programs
- programs that improve the health of elderly
- poison prevention programs
I will conduct further work to determine additional appropriate programs and ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes to complete this useful tool.
William Joseph Freeman, MPH
