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Research letter
Multicentre prospective observational study to evaluate healthcare impacts of e-scooters on emergency departments
  1. Trainee Emergency Research Network TERN
  1. Royal College of Emergency Medicine, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Trainee Emergency Research Network TERN, Royal College of Emergency Medicine, London, UK; tern{at}rcem.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2022-212974

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    E-scooters have emerged as an environmentally friendly mode of inner-city transportation,1 and e-scooter-associated injuries are a growing area of concern.2 In the UK, rental e-scooter trial schemes were introduced in 2020; alongside these trials, illegal private e-scooter use in public spaces has also increased.3 There is little UK data outlining the healthcare impact of e-scooters, although work has examined the impact in Europe.4

    The primary objective was to quantify the prevalence and nature of injuries sustained by individuals involved in accidents associated with e-scooters across multiple cities. Secondary objectives were to determine the nature of injuries by e-scooter type (rental or private); delineate the impact of rental schemes in terms of overall ED attendances; and report rates of helmet wearing, substance misuse and costs related to e-scooter presentations.

    Between 13 September and 19 November 2021, twenty sites (10 adult major trauma centres (MTC) (7 with colocated paediatric MTCs) and 10 city-centre trauma units) collected data over a 4-week period. ED patients presenting with an injury associated with an e-scooter accident (drivers, passengers and bystanders) were prospectively identified by ED clinicians 24/7.

    A total of 250 patients were enrolled, with median age 26 (IQR 20–46); 67% were male (table 1). Injuries were predominantly among those driving e-scooters (n=231, 92.8%), with 10 pedestrians (4.0%), 5 e-scooter passengers (2.0%) and 2 cyclists (0.8%) injured colliding with an e-scooter. Rental e-scooters were ridden in 94 …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Ellen J Weber

    • Collaborators TERN Collaborative. Writing committee: Southmead Hospital, Bristol (Tom Roberts, Sara Qandil, Edward Carlton); Bristol Children’s Hospital, Bristol (Robert Hirst). Local collaborators: Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge (Susie Hardwick, Mariam Imam, Jo Sumpter); The Alexandra Hospital, Worcester (Karen Jones, Jennifer Hardy); Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol (Andy Lockyer, Carl Robinson); Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London (Fiqry Fadhlillah, Mun Kiong Lim); Colchester General Hospital, Colchester (Rupa Chatterjee, Ooi Huah Chiang, Jose Morales Kohlmann, Jhalakkumar Patel, Antoine Maurice Ayoub, Ernest Isokpehi, Mattia Kolletzek); Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds (Sundararaj Manou); Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester (Mark Brown, Charlie Reynard); Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham (Stephen Ojo); Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh (Rajesh Chatha, Rory Anderson); Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool (Wojciech Sawicki, Terry McLoughlin, John Paul Gilbert); Northampton General Hospital, Northampton (Aiden Pettet, Sophie Guilfoyle, Michelle Spinks); Northern Care Alliance, Salford (Cameron Stocks, Reece Doonan, Michael Angiy); Northwick Park, London (Ines Corcuera); Southmead Hospital, Bristol (Lara Jenner, Fraser Birse, Callum Taylor, Darshni Pandya, Connor Moore, Ysabelle Thackray); St George's Hospital, London (Sean Dillane); University College London Hospitals, London (Emma McLean, James Harnett, Gregor Cameron, Gregory Gibson); University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry (Caroline Leech); University Hospital Southampton, Southampton (Elizabeth Frost, Daniel Jackman, Nigel McCoy, Shoura Karar, William Nevard, Shauna Marshall); West Middlesex University Hospital, Isleworth (Sangeetha Saunder, Faisal Akbar, Faryal Amir, Joy Inns, Mirasol Laureta, Mirwais Daulatzai, Praveen Kumar Papala, Vilavan Koompirochana); Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester (Chris Wheeler).

    • Contributors The members of the writing committee (Tom Roberts, Robert Hirst, Sara Qandil, Edward Carlton) assume responsibility for the overall content and integrity of this article. TR and EC conceived the idea for this study. SQ produced drafts of original protocol. TR was responsible for the data collection, ethical approval and analysis. RH coordinated the study and liaised with recruiting sites. TERN collaborators collected data at each site.

    • Funding Royal College of Emergency Medicine provides funding for the Trainee Emergency Research Network (TERN).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.