Hand Trauma Prevention Meeting

The First Hand trauma prevention meeting was held in Bursa (Turkey) on June 25th, 2009

This meeting was organised by T Kaleli (Turkey), T Dubert (France) and Ph Bellemere (France) on behalf of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) and the Hand Trauma Committee (HTC)

This important event was a first attempt to give a comprehensive view of the importance of hand trauma.

In summary
  • Hand trauma is the first cause of sick leave following work related accidents.
  • A total of 8.8 million accidents occur in Europe every year.
  • Health care (surgery, rehabilitation, hospitalisation) expenses represent only about 20% of the total expenses as opposed to financial compensation (paid sick leave and sequelae) that account for 80%
  • The incidence of work-related Hand trauma shows unequal distribution among European Countries (25% to 60%).
  • Efficient prevention plans can reduce hand trauma in work place by up to 50%
  • Lack of prevention in daily life activities is alarming
The data collected in this meeting is a valuable justification for prioritizing Hand Injury Prevention on the health policy agenda of the European Union. Powerpoint presentations of this meeting are downloadable for free here.

01 The prevention of finger amputations and soft tissue injuries to the hand by Suva safety guard applications
Vogt W., Vögelin E. (Germany)
02 8 days of Hand Emergencies - FESUM audit 2002
Th Dubert, Y Allieu, Ph Bellemere, D Egloff, J Nonnenmacher, J Baudet, JP Haloua, E Masmejean, F Marin-Braun, P Poirier, D Sassoon
03 How can we prevent injuries?
Philippe Bellemere (France)
04 Hand Injury Prevention Society and Hand Injuries in Turkey
Tufan Kaleli (Turkey)
05 Cost of Hand Injuries
Philippe Bellemere (France)
06 Evaluation of the Risk Factors for Occupational Acute Hand Injuries
Burçin KEÇECI, Murat ÖZTÜRK, Elcil KAYA BIÇER, Seyithan ÇETINKAYA, Oguz ÖZDEMIR, Erhan COŞKUNOL (Turkey)
07 EU Injury Database (EU IDB) - Prevention oriented injury surveillance - example hand injuries
Robert Bauer (Austria)
08 Hand injury prevention in Swedish work places
Bel Bergenwall, Leif Aringer (Sweden)
09 Hand Trauma Committee Organisation
Thierry Dubert (France)
10 Success of Hand-Trauma Prevention in the German Meat Industry and Butcher Shops
Norbert Schulz, Ricarda Böttcher (Germany)
11 Prevention of Ring Finger Avulsion
Thierry Dubert (France)
12 Principal Reasons of Accidents
Cihangir Tetik (Turkey)
13 What is the Cost of injuries for Individuals and Communities? Replantation Versus Amputation
Michel Merle (Luxembourg)



Hand Trauma Prevention in Europe Survey

The Hand Trauma Committee decided in Athens to conduct a survey to review the hand trauma prevention in Europe. A questionnaire has been sent out to each country. The synthesis of all the questionnaires will be presented soon in this website.