While the terms wound and injury maybe used interchangeably, this can be incorrect, as a wound involves a break in the skin.
Documentation of an injury should meet the criteria as described in Churchills’ Medicolegal Pocketbook:
Further, if a patient presents with an injury, it is important to consider how this information may be shared and used. Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (ISTV) is a national programme that seeks to use information collected from patients presenting the Emergency Department with an injury to prevent further violence and injury. By knowing where and how people are injured to up one third of injuries can be prevented. One third of people treated for injuries in ED do not tell the police.
Anonymised data captured in ED is shared with the Community Safety Partnership team. Together with policing and local authority data is can be used to work out areas of antisocial behaviour and mechanisms put in place to address this.
They recommend the following questions are asked and recorded:
In cities where ISTV data is recorded well, shared, and used, serious violence decreased by 30-40% compared with cities where this information is not shared.
Do not forget to consider safeguarding concerns and referral if warranted.