Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada

Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario
• Ambulance trips involving a combination of methods (a small minority in the
data) are assumed to all involve ground transport and to involve air or water
ambulances as well in proportion to individual air and water ambulance use in the
data.
• Air and water ambulance are allocated according to the proportionate share of
fatalities and major injuries. All remaining fatalities and major injuries transported
by ambulance to hospital are assigned a ground ambulance trip.
• Fatalities not transported to hospital are assumed transported by the Coroner.
• Ground ambulance trips not allocated in the above are assigned to individuals
with minor injuries. This includes those transported a second time to another
facility (day surgery, clinic, or another emergency department).
b) ER visits
Many of those involved in motor vehicle collisions are treated in hospital. When
services are complete (for example in the case of a minimal injury, or an individual who
is admitted to hospital through an ER) an ER visit is recorded. When services are less
than complete (for example if an individual leaves before treatment in the ER) the visit is
weighted to reflect the degree of ER service completed. Incomplete ER services are
weighted from 0.1 for an individual who is registered but not seen to 0.7 for someone
who receives some treatment but leaves before the treatment is complete. All incomplete
ER visits are assigned to the minimal injury category because the individual received less
than the required treatment to be classified as a minor injury. Fatalities pronounced dead
on arrival at hospital are assigned an ER visit weight of 0.25.
Using these weights we calculate a total of 71,203 ER visits, and allocate them
among fatalities, major and minor injuries and to minimal injuries as noted.
c) Hospital stay
The number of days of stay as a patient is recorded for those admitted to hospital.
A hospital stay is recorded for major injuries and fatalities. It is assumed that individuals
who become fatalities after admittance to hospital are not released from hospital prior to
their death.
As a result, we assign 47,914 patient-days for those admitted and released from
hospital to the major injury category and 1939 patient-days to those admitted to but
subsequently dieing in hospital.
2. Other Medical Professional Use
The analysis by Chipman, and with the adjustments noted in an earlier section,
identifies the following number of visits per injured surviving individual: primary MD—
26 TNS Canadian Facts, Social and Policy Research