Trauma

This chapter addresses the problem of injury in rural areas of Appalachia, including the role of trauma systems in caring for the injured and the inadequacies of these systems in rural areas. Because systems for collecting data on injury are fragmented and limited in scope, the precise analysis of injury data in Appalachia remains impossible, even in the twenty-first century. Therefore, injury data from three Appalachian states are used as a surrogate for other rural areas in Appalachia. This chapter outlines specific deficiencies and concludes with recommendations for future research and policy initiatives.