Trauma Registry

An important part of a Level I trauma center is that we work to understand more about traumatic injuries so that we can improve care and develop better ways to prevent them. As part of that, a trauma registry helps set a system for tracking and reviewing outcomes and trends. The information from our trauma registry, such as types of injuries, ages and where they live, tells us where we need to focus our injury prevention programs and education.

Parkland has maintained a trauma registry since 1986. The trauma registry provides a secure database to support the patient follow-up, performance improvement and research. Parkland’s state-of-the-art system is a national model in performance improvement and data management.

Our system is managed by certified trauma registrars. Each registrar is certified in what’s called injury scoring and has completed the American Trauma Society’s Trauma Registrar Course.

“A trauma registry is a disease-specific data collection composed of a file of uniform data elements that describe the injury event, demographics, prehospital information, diagnosis, care, outcomes, and costs of treatment of injured patients.”-Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient

Resources

• Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP)
• National Trauma Data Standard (NTDS)
• Texas Department of State Health Services Trauma Resource Site
• Injury Severity Scoring Information
• ICD 10 Scoring Information
• Resources for Optimal Care f the Injured Patient, Chapter 15

The trauma registry is the backbone to every trauma center, and the trauma registrars are valued team members. They work closely with the Trauma Medical Director, Trauma Program Manager and Trauma Nurse Clinicians. Required and custom data elements are housed in the registry. In order for this data to be used for performance improvement, injury prevention and research, the trauma registry team must keep detailed and reliable information.

Parkland submits trauma registry data to TQIP, the State of Texas, and the Regional Advisory Council on a quarterly basis. This data goes through an extensive validation process prior to submission to ensure data is accurate. Registrars must complete the AAAM scoring class and the ATS Trauma Registrar Course (or equivalent). The registrars at Parkland also ensure they stay current with education by participating in the TQIP webinars and monthly quizzes. The registrars also maintain a minimum of 8 hours of continuing education every year.

The Parkland trauma registry team combined has over 100 years of trauma experience.