Why you should read this article:

•

To refresh your knowledge of the crucial components of hand injury assessment

•

To reflect on the complexity of hand injury assessment and the importance of accurate referrals to tertiary care

•

To gain awareness of the hand injury assessment training needs of emergency department clinicians

Hand injury is a common presentation in the emergency department (ED). The accurate assessment of hand injuries is essential to ensure optimal management, which may need to include referral to a tertiary trauma centre. However, hand injury assessment can be challenging, particularly in children. A better understanding of the accuracy of hand injury referrals to tertiary care can help improve clinical practice and clinician training.

This article reports on a service improvement project that aimed to determine the accuracy of hand injury referrals from EDs and general practices to a tertiary trauma centre. The retrospective investigation found the accuracy of referrals to be high, but also identified areas where hand injury assessment required improvement, one of them being the training of clinicians referring complex cases to tertiary care.