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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Each year, 20 million US children are injured, affecting the child, his/her family, and society, which often bears the cost. Among school-age children age 8 to 12, injuries lead to 2 million emergency department (ED) visits and 40,000-50,000 hospital admissions annually, resulting in $6 billion in medical costs and $11 billion more in work loss costs. Approximately 1 in 6 injured children will develop posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) that persist for months and interfere with recovery. Although PTSS has been shown to be associated with health and functional outcomes following injury, few health systems routinely address PTSS in injured pediatric patients. This project proposes to address this critical, systemic problem by focusing on the gap between current approaches for identifying PTSS and the needs of injured children, their families, health care providers, and health systems. We propose an integrated screening and intervention system that takes advantage of advances in e-Health and developmentally-appropriate engagement strategies, as well as a shifting economic landscape that provides health systems with incentives for optimizing short- and long-term patient outcomes and for meaningful use of health information technology. We will develop a prototype system and evaluate its usability, feasibility, and utility among key user
groups. Simultaneously, we will evaluate the technical feasibility of implementation and delineate an initial commercialization plan grounded in extensive learning from key stakeholders.
