Presenter Profile
Mary Beth Vassy, MPH, CPST-I
Pediatric Trauma Injury Prevention Coordinator, MUSC Children's Health
Safe Kids Charleston Area Coalition Lead
vassy@musc.edu
Instagram: @mbvassy
Mary Beth Vassy, MPH, CPST-I is the Pediatric Injury Prevention Coordinator at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where she leads injury prevention initiatives focused on child passenger safety, safe sleep, bleeding control education, and pediatric injury surveillance. She also leads the Safe Kids Charleston Area Coalition, fostering partnerships and community engagement to improve child safety outcomes across the region. With a Master of Public Health in Biostatistics, she integrates data-driven research, program evaluation, and community outreach to advance evidence-based injury prevention strategies. Mary Beth serves as Chair of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids Safe Sleep Subcommittee, is a member of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids Board of Directors, and was recognized as the Injury Free Coalition for Kids Program Coordinator of the Year in 2025.
Presentations
Analyzing Pediatric Level I Trauma Registry Data on Golf Cart Injuries to Inform Community Outreach and Injury Prevention Strategies
Mary Beth Vassy, MPH, CPST-I
Callista Lamb, MPH
Kalyani Sonawane, PhD
Golf carts are becoming more popular as a means of transportation outside of their intended use. From this increase of use, pediatric and adult golf cart injuries are on the rise in Charleston County and surrounding areas. When 100 databases were evaluated, it showed that children were more susceptible to head and neck injuries in comparison to adults that had a golf cart related injury (Miller, et al., 2016). South Carolina amended their golf cart laws (H. 3292) in 2025 to require children 12 and under be wearing a seat belt while in a golf cart. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation is that children under the age of 6 should not ride in a golf cart (Watson, et al., 2008). Previous research is limited on pediatric golf cart injuries and shows these injuries are most likely to be under reported (Simpson, et al., 2019).
A retrospective quantitative study method was used to evaluate 101 pediatric injuries that presented to SJCH from 2015-2025. This data was pulled from the emergency department (ED) and then put into a database that was de-identified. The data was then cleaned in Excel to be suitable for coding in R statistics. The data was grouped by sex, age, year of injury, days in ICU, location in golf cart vehicle, injury mechanism, primary injury location (superficial or not superficial), secondary injury location (superficial or not superficial), tertiary injury location (superficial or not superficial), and the injury severity score. Injury mechanisms included car accident, ejection, fell off, rollover, and run over. Once the data was cleaned quantitatively, it was then put into R statistics for coding to see correlation between injury location, golf cart position, superficial or non-superficial, and other characteristics of the injuries.
Data Analysis: 49.98% of primary injuries were located on the child’s head, with 9 of these being superficial and 38 of these injuries being non-superficial. Of children’s whose position in the golf cart were listed in their ED chart, the most common golf cart seating position across all injuries was being a passenger not in the front seat. In 2015, there was only one pediatric golf cart injury, but in 2021 and 2023 there were 19 and 17 in 2024. 42 children fell out of the golf cart and 31 of those kids that fell out obtained a primary head injury.
The most common type of injury occurred in the children’s head, with majority of them being non-superficial. Knowing that head injuries were the most common injury type, it would be wise for future research efforts to evaluate safety mechanisms and items to protect children’s heads such as helmets or other devices. Knowing that head injuries were the most common injury type, it would be wise for future research efforts to evaluate safety mechanisms and items to protect children’s heads such as helmets or other devices.
1. Analyze pediatric golf cart–related injury data to identify common injury patterns, including mechanism, body region affected, and injury severity.
2. Examine trends and contributing risk factors, such as passenger position and temporal changes, to determine factors associated with increased injury risk.
3. Discuss evidence-based injury prevention and community outreach strategies aimed at reducing pediatric golf cart injuries, particularly head injuries.
**requesting poster session if possible**