Development of an emergency department-based injury surveillance system

Study objective: To describe the development of an emergency department-based injury surveillance system, to describe the problems encountered, and to briefly describe the data output and potential applications. Methods: Within our university-based hospital system and Level I trauma center register, injury data currently exist on all ED patients. Over 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 merge variables. Elements in our data set included demographic information, ED-related variables, and codes for nature of injury and circumstances of injury. Data files for 1 month were inspected manually to validate the success of the merger. Problems encountered in developing the system were summarized. Results: A manual review of 1 month of data files from our hospital system, trauma register, and ED log revealed that the records of more than 97% (2,802) of 2,878 injury patients seen in our ED had additional data attached after the merger. No errors of commission were found, but errors of omission occurred. The barriers that 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.