Searching hospital discharge records for snow sport injury: no easy run?

When using hospital discharge data to shape sports injury prevention policy, it is important to correctly identify cases. The objectives of this study were to examine the ease with which snow-skiing and snowboarding injury cases could be identified from national hospital discharge data and to assess the suitability of the information obtained for shaping policy. Hospital discharges for 2000-2004 were linked to compensated claims and searched sequentially using coded and narrative information. One thousand three hundred seventy-six eligible cases were identified, with 717 classified as snowboarding and 659 as snow-skiing. For the most part, cases could not be identified and distinguished using simple searches of coded data; keyword searches of narratives played a key role in case identification but not in describing the mechanism of injury. Identification and characterisation of snow sport injury from in-patient discharge records is problematic due to inadequacies in the coding systems and/or their implementation. Narrative reporting could be improved.     

Simplified techniques for assessing range condition for livestock production: An example from Ciskei

In the past, the only available techniques for assessing range condition in Ciskei were laborious and required specialist knowledge. Simplified techniques were developed specifically for use by extension officers and fanners in Ciskei. The techniques are for the herbaceous layer and the woody layer, and both are practical, rapid and easy to use and are best used simultaneously. The vegetation of Ciskei was stratified and data were collected for sites of different range condition in each stratum. Point surveys were conducted in the herbaceous layer and quadrat surveys in the woody layer. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to determine key ecological species and key forage species for the herbaceous layer, while photographs that represent different range conditions were identified for the woody layer.