Patient-Provided Video Footage of Injuries in the Pediatric Emergency Department: A Novel Adjunct to Patient History

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of viewing video footage during a pediatric emergency department (ED) encounter on the medical assessment of children with traumatic injuries, specifically its influence on clinical decision-making and management. METHODS: Data was collected over 35 months at a pediatric level 1 trauma center. Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) providers completed a survey after evaluating patients presenting with an injury and reviewing video footage shown to them depicting what happened to the child. The survey included basic video information and whether video footage influenced the providers' approach to patient care. RESULTS: Fifty-one surveys were completed after families voluntarily showed PEM providers video footage of the patient's mechanism of injury. In 27 cases (53%), ED providers reported that observing the video influenced management. Review of footage influenced providers' decision regarding radiologic imaging in 18 cases (35%); providers performed imaging in 11 cases where they would not have otherwise, and did not perform imaging in 7 cases where they would have otherwise. Review of footage influenced providers' decision regarding laboratory studies in 5 cases (10%). Six (12%) providers indicated they consulted specialists after viewing the video footage when they otherwise would not have. CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate that viewing video footage related to the mechanism of injury affected the clinical decision-making processes of PEM providers in more than half of the observed instances (53%). This suggests that video surveillance footage has potential utility as an adjunct to traditional history-taking in the trauma evaluation of patients presenting to the ED.