A Randomised Controlled Trial on Health Promotion Program for Re-Injury Prevention in Young Children Treated in Emergency Department

Abstract

A prospective, randomised, controlled study was undertaken to examine the effect of a health promotion program in an Accident and Emergency Department (ED) for childhood accident prevention. All children eligible for the study were randomised into three groups: one control and two intervention groups (Prevention Program One (PP1): nurse counseling and pamphlets; Prevention Program Two (PP2): PP1 plus a videotape to bring home). Of the 296 cases valid for analysis, there were 10, 3 and 2 cases of re-injury in the control (n=106), PP1 (n=97) and PP2 (n=93) groups over a period of 2 months' follow-up respectively. Ten out of the 15 incidents (66.7%) returned to ED for treatment. The re-injury rate was 56.6 (95% CI: 19.1, 94.1) per 100 per year for the control group. The intervention groups had lower re-injury rate. The videotape had no additional effect on the intervention. The relative risk reduction (RRR) was 72.1% (95% CI: 69.2%, 74.8%) and the number-needed-to-treat (NNT) was 15 (95% CI: 8,463) for the combined intervention group in a 2-month period. This prevention program using simple means was deemed cost-effective and feasible in the ED setting.