Adoption and use of guidelines for whiplash: an audit of insurer and health professional practice in New South Wales, Australia

Table 1 Demographic, claim, injury characteristics from a sample of WAD claims from four NSW CTP insurers

All files	N = 288
Demographic characteristics
Age, mean ± SD	41.6 ± 15.5
Female, n (%)	171 (59.4)
Employment status, n (%)
Employed	166 (57.6)
Unemployed	90 (31.3)
Self-employed	32 (11.1)
Claim characteristics
Claim status, n (%)
Open	263 (91.3)
Finalised	25 (8.7)
Type of claim, n (%)
Accident notification form	125 (43.4)
Full claim direct^a	125 (43.4)
Full claim converted^b	38 (13.2)
Legally represented, n (%)	166 (57.6)
Injury details
Road user type, n (%)
Driver	223 (77.4)
Passenger	65 (22.6)
Injury count, median (IQR)	2 (2.0)
WAD grade, n (%)
Grade I	40 (13.9)
Grade II	230 (79.9)
Grade III	15 (5.2)
Cannot determine	3 (1.0)

WAD whiplash associated disorder, SD standard deviation, IQR interquartile range
^a Full claim direct are claims lodged to access benefits more than $5000 and where recovery is expected to last longer than 6 months. A PICF is submitted to the insurance company to access these benefits
^b Full claim converted are claims that have initially been submitted through ANF but later on converted to full claim to access further benefits more than $5000

ISSN: 1472-6963