DEVELOPING A NATIONAL REGISTRY OF VETERANS WITH SPINAL-CORD DYSFUNCTION - EXPERIENCES AND IMPLICATIONS

We describe the development of a registry of veterans with spinal cord dysfunction who have been treated within the Department of Veterans A ffairs health care facilities. The registry departs from the function and structure of traditional registries by a more extensive utilizatio n of advances in computer technology; in particular, by its reliance u pon computerized record linkage and by its association with a set of c omputer-based clinical management and reporting tools. We discuss some of the applications of the registry to research for persons with spin al cord dysfunction as well as implications that our experiences provi de for developing other registries of persons with disabilities.