Faculty Collaboration Database

Pediatric disaster preparedness: the potential role of the trauma registry. J Trauma 2009 Aug;67(2 Suppl):S172-8

Date

08/15/2009

Pubmed ID

19667854

DOI

10.1097/TA.0b013e3181af0aeb

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-70349233807 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   17 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Improving trauma care and preparing for a disaster require data collection and analysis. Trauma registries capture data for research, measure trauma system outcomes, and support quality improvement through assessment of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the trauma system.

METHODS: The purpose of this article is to evaluate the role of trauma registries in disaster planning for the pediatric population by: (1) describing the history and current state of pediatric trauma registries; (2) providing examples of functioning trauma registries and their application to assist in disaster planning; and (3) a summary of the applicability to pediatric disaster planning as well as recommendations for future efforts.

RESULTS: The National Pediatric Trauma Registry was discontinued in 2002. A detailed plan and design have been developed for the National Trauma Registry for Children; however, the funding has not been available to implement. The National Trauma Data Bank is the largest repository of trauma records in the United States; however, it has not focused specifically on pediatric data collection. The most highly reported use of trauma registry data for studying mass casualties and disaster planning has been conducted outside of the United States and related to terrorist attacks.

CONCLUSIONS: Aggregating existing data from state trauma registries or using the National Trauma Data Bank may facilitate development of statistical models to help predict survival, injury patterns, and important physiological thresholds. However, representative pediatric-specific trauma registry data are needed to obtain an adequate sample size in pediatric population to extrapolate data to represent the scale of a disaster.

Author List

Cassidy LD

Author

Laura Cassidy PhD Associate Dean, Institute Director, Professor in the Institute for Health and Humanity department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Child
Databases, Factual
Disaster Planning
Humans
Registries
Reproducibility of Results
United States
Wounds and Injuries