DEVELOPMENT OF AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT-BASED INJURY SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

Study objective: To describe the development of an emergency departmen t-based injury surveillance system, to describe the problems encounter ed, and to briefly describe the data output and potential applications . Methods: Within our university-based hospital system and Level I tra uma center register, injury data currently exist on all ED patients. O ver a 1-year period, these data sets were linked with our ED log using the hospital identification number and date of service as the key mer ge variables. Elements in our data set included demographic informatio n, ED-related variables, and codes for nature of injury and circumstan ces of injury. Data files for 1 month were inspected manually to valid ate the success of the merger. Problems encountered in developing the system were summarized. Results: A manual review of 1 month of data fi les from our hospital system, trauma register, and ED log revealed tha t the records of more than 97% (2,802) of 2,878 injury patients seen i n our ED had additional data attached after the merger. No errors of c ommission were found, but errors of omission occurred. The barriers th at were encountered during the development of this injury surveillance system are described. Conclusion: Hospital data can be linked to the ED log to create an injury surveillance system that captures valuable information on patients admitted and discharged from the ED.