An injury registry provides information about all outpatient visits to the local hospitals to better understand where and what types of injuries are occurring in each community. At Harbor-UCLA we have created such a registry for all pediatric (0-16 years old) visits to the Emergency Department. We partner with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Injury and Violence Prevention Division to develop maps detailing where the injuries occur. Our preliminary results show that on average in 2003, 7 children were seen per day in our Emergency Department from an injury that could have been prevented. Our future plans include developing a regional injury registry, that will provide a comprehensive picture of the injuries occuring to all children within the South Bay and Harbor regions of Los Angeles.
