The objective of this study was to determine whether employees of a regional trauma center wore seat belts any more often than did visitors to the medical center and residents of the state; to demonstrate whether an intensive safety campaign would improve seat-belt compliance among trauma center employees; and to determine the duration of improvement. Hospital employees and visitors were observed as they exited the medical center's parking ramps over a 3-month period. After a hospital-wide seat-belt campaign, employee compliance rose by 7.5%, to 81.5% at 14 days, but fell back to preintervention levels at one month (76.7%) and 3 months (77%) after the intervention. An intensive seat-belt safety campaign resulted in only modest and transient improvement in the rate of seat-belt use. (A)
Abstract