Level-I trauma centre treatment effects on return to work in teaching hospitals.

Background Previous research found a positive effect of Level-I trauma centres on return to work outcomes for patients 18-64 years old who were mainly working before injury. Trauma centres were compared to hospitals that differed on average in characteristics such as size and staffing, among others. Thus, a portion of the effect found could be due to general differences in hospital variables rather than the special characteristics of Level I trauma centres. Comparing Level I trauma centres to other Teaching hospitals provides a more refined test of the effect of these centres on return-to-work outcomes. Methods The National Study on the Costs and Outcomes of Trauma (NSCOT) is the main source of data for our empirical investigation. We used non-linear instrumental variables methods to control for unobserved characteristics and restrict the sample to teaching hospitals.