Background Each year, approximately 180 000 children are admitted to Paediatric Emergency Departments (PED) throughout Israel due to injuries. The hospital registry system (ATD) records the reason for admission, injury results and demographic data. A study conducted at Wolfson Medical Center to collect a Minimal Data Set (MDS) as recommended by the WHO includes injury type, injury location, injury cause and activity during injury.

Methods Data Sources for children age 0–17 admitted to PED: ATD for 2008 and unique MDS registry for August–December, 2008. Data from ATD and MDS were analysed and compared to determine unique information collected via MDS, examine child injury data and characterise patterns of PED visits.

Results ATD data includes injuries of 6,375 children admitted as a result of injury. The MDS data covers 84% of admissions in August–December. MDS provides additional information and refines data collected in the ATD. ATD data defined the external cause of injury in 70% of the injuries as a single category ‘falls, blunt trauma and cuts’, while MDS data distinguishes these cases as falls- 40%, blunt trauma- 24% and cuts- 5%. ATD analysis indicated 152 road traffic accident (RTA) injuries, while MDS analysis point to 409 RTA cases of which 46% were bicycle related. MDS data also indicates that half of the injuries occurred at home. The study examines feasibility for a sustainable MDS data collection in PED departments and is also used in a partnership between the hospital and a local municipality to identify and repair child injury hazards.