In this issue

Active CHIRPP Centre benefits Winnipeg community

Margaret Herbert new Acting Chief

New division to look at child abuse

CHIRPP database undergoes technical changes

Abstract Reprint: Infant walker injuries persist in Canada after sales have ceased

Legislation overview available

The CHIRPP Sampler, Injuries from diving and jumping into water

Welcome to CHIRPP News

Issue 10

March 1997

Active CHIRPP Centre benefits Winnipeg community

The Children's Hospital in Winnipeg was one of the 10 pediatric hospitals that began collecting data on children's injuries when CHIRPP was launched on April 1, 1990. Seven years later, the CHIRPP Centre remains an active participant and is increasingly dedicated to using CHIRPP data locally.

Injury prevention activities at the Children's Hospital were given a boost a year and a half ago with the creation of IM-PACT (Injuries Manitoba - Prevention of Adolescent and Childhood Trauma). This new centre serves as a clearing house for data on the latest developments in treatment, research and surveillance of children's injuries and brings together the CHIRPP Centre, SAFE KIDS Canada and hospital researchers. CHIRPP director Milton Tenenbein and Richard Stanwick worked together to set up this unique centre with funds from the Children's Hospital Research Foundation. Terry Klassen was the original IM-PACT director. He has now returned to Ottawa and Michael Moffatt is the new director.

CHIRPP coordinator Cathie Morrison says she believes the physical relocation of the CHIRPP Centre to the IM-PACT office last year was a positive move. CHIRPP is now seen as an integral part of the IM-PACT office and Ms. Morrison participates in its weekly management meetings. She credits this partnership with raising the profile of CHIRPP within both the hospital and the community at large. CHIRPP data are used to answer many of the information requests IM-PACT receives and to provide context for injury-related articles in various newsletters.

Playground injuries

CHIRPP data were used in 1993 as part of a local study on playground equipment injuries by Dr. Sande Harlos of the Children's Hospital. There were 95 playground-related emergency visits to the hospital from April to August 1993, accounting for 4.7% of all trauma visits. Twenty-five percent of these injuries were to 1-4 year olds, 59% were to 5-9 year olds and 16% were to 10-14 year olds. Falls were the cause of 79% of the injuries.

A one-day project to demonstrate community action in improving the depth of playground surfacing resulted from this study. The Kids Don't Bounce project was planned by the Winnipeg SAFE KIDS Coalition and IM-PACT using CHIRPP data for ongoing surveillance of playground equipment injuries.

A related project funded by the Child Injury Division's Local Research Support Program will begin this spring. The CHIRPP Centre in Winnipeg has developed a pilot project for the evaluation of a reporting feedback mechanism. CHIRPP information on specific playground injuries will be provided regularly to playground operators, who will have the opportunity to use it for assessment of their facilities and to take remedial action if necessary. It is hoped that improvements will be made and result in a decrease in the number and severity of playground injuries. After six months, the findings will be evaluated by the operators and IM-PACT staff.

Bicycle-related injuries

CHIRPP data have been used to provide baseline trends for bicycle-related injuries. The data from the Children's Hospital have been combined with provincial health data to capture a Manitoba-wide picture of bicycle-related admissions and deaths. The information is currently being used by the Manitoba Cycling Health and Safety Committee to substantiate to potential funders the need for a provincial bicycle safety education program. Ms. Morrison is a member of the interagency group, and IM-PACT has been asked by the committee to lead the work to set up this education initiative. It will be a three-pronged, three-year prevention effort to raise awareness and change behaviour, make environmental modifications and introduce policy and legislative changes.

Babywalker injuries

A babywalker study was conducted using CHIRPP data from the first three-and-a-half years of data collection (1990-1993). Families whose children sustained walker-related injuries were contacted by telephone and asked where they had acquired the walker and if they had continued to use it following the child's injury. The study led to an article that was recently published in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care; the abstract of that article is reprinted on page 7.

IM-PACT staff decided to act on the study results and recommendations by devising a public education campaign discouraging babywalker use. Together with Canadian Tire, they have planned an incentive-driven campaign to recall walkers still in use.

Dog bites

The Children's Hospital is one of eight CHIRPP hospitals participating in a study on dog-bite injuries. Between June 1995 and August 1996, coordinators at the CHIRPP centres telephoned the families of dog-bite victims who had filled out CHIRPP forms at the emergency department. The coordinators asked detailed questions of the parents or patients who agreed to take part concerning the circumstances surrounding the incident, the type of dog involved and the ownership of the dog.Information on the emergency department treatment was extracted from the hospital chart.

The data are being analyzed by Jasline Flores, the CHIRPP Coordinator at Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus in Quebec City, and Janet Brown, a Child Injury Division analyst in Ottawa. Results of the analysis of the 385 records will appear in a future issue of CHIRPP News.

Ms. Morrison and Dr. Tenenbein are excited about the direction the Winnipeg program is taking. "The application of routinely collected injury data in research studies that lead to intervention and prevention is crucial to many health care staff who are in the front lines," Ms. Morrison says. "All too often, they participate in data collection, studies are written and nothing seems to come of it. Public education prevention programs and subsequent program evaluation that stem from grass-roots research are critical in demonstrating to all staff the important role we play in injury prevention."

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