To the Editor: Quality data about patients with injuries requiring hospitalisation is vital to injury policy and prevention strategies.1 The ICD-10-AM is used in Australia to assign codes to diagnoses, procedures, and causes of injury recorded in patient medical records.2 This coded hospital morbidity data provides a key surveillance tool for injury researchers.
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- 1 National Centre for Classification in Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD.
- 2 National Injury Surveillance Unit, Research Centre for Injury Studies, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA.
Correspondence: k.mckenzie@qut.edu.au
- 1. Mathers C, Penm R. Health system costs of injury, poisoning and musculoskeletal disorders in Australia 1993-94. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1999. (AIHW Catalogue No. HWE 12; Health and welfare expenditure series No. 6).
- 2. National Centre for Classification in Health. The international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision, Australian modification (ICD-10-AM). 4th ed. Sydney: NCHH, 2004.
- 3. National Centre for Classification in Health. The good clinical documentation guide. 1st ed. Sydney: NCCH, 2003.
- 4. LeMier M, Cummings P, West TA. Accuracy of external cause of injury codes reported in Washington State hospital discharge records. Inj Prev 2001; 7: 334-338.
- 5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Injury prevention and control. 2005. http://www.aihw. gov.au/nhpa/injury (accessed Feb 2006).
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