The Utility Of A Multicenter Regional Trauma Registry

We report on the experience of five trauma receiving hospitals (four general hospitals and one spinal cord unit) in establishing a multicenter trauma registry (TR) for the purpose of data sharing. To ensure data comparability, all coders were oriented to standard data definitions and injury severity scaling. Coders and their physician sponsors met regularly to review data. Data presented for the four general hospitals from January through September 1992 address comparison of mortality rates, resource implications of isolated hip fractures, and the utility of knowing regional neurosurgical (NS) trauma volumes. Because of a statistically significant higher mortality rate at hospital 2, 7.2% versus 4.7% overall, mortality data were further characterized by patient age, mean ISS, and frequency of severe head injury