Queensland's Rural Car Crashes Too Costly, Australia

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 18 Jan 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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The current costs of retrieval and hospital care associated with rural and remote road crashes in northern Queensland represent a considerable economic burden, according to a study in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Teresa O'Connor, a senior lecturer from the School of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University, and her co-authors, studied the cost of retrieval, transport and acute medical care for road crash victims in northern Queensland from March 2004 to June 2007.

They estimated that the total costs over the study period were a staggering $10.4 million - an average cost per injured person of approximately $15,000 and an estimated average annual cost of $3.1 million.

Dr O'Connor said that, due to the remote location of many of the road crashes, the associated transport and retrieval costs comprised 36% of the total costs.

"In addition, rural and remote car crashes are more likely than urban road crashes to be serious, due to faster travelling speeds, greater alcohol and drug use, lower rates of seatbelt use, and delays in emergency response and retrieval times.

"Additional factors [include] a greater variety of vehicle types, and poorer road quality."

Seventy-three per cent of primary retrievals occurred by road and more than half of inter-hospital transfers were undertaken by air services.

Casualties occupied a total of 6,360 acute bed-days in hospital, of which 734 were in an intensive care unit.

Dr O'Connor said current expenditure on retrieval and transport costs might be reduced by more efficient trauma management systems.

"It may be possible to avoid or delay patient transportation from regional, rural and remote health care facilities through the use of telemedicine and teleradiology."

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Medical Journal of Australia

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