Trauma Registry

Alberta Trauma Services

A comprehensive trauma registry is a requirement of Trauma Association of Canada guidelines for all trauma centers.  Since January 1 2015, all 10 trauma centers have a web-based trauma registry called the Alberta Trauma Registry.

To qualify for the Alberta Trauma Registry, a trauma case is included if it:

• Has an ICD external cause of injury code that meets the definition of Trauma
• Has an Injury Severity Score (ISS) greater than or equal to (≥) 12, calculated using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (as of 2015: AIS 2005 Version, 2008 update; prior to 2015 AIS 1990, 1998 update) OR meets all penetrating trauma definition which require the use of surgical/OR resources by admitted patients (included as of Jan 1 2015).
• Meets one of the following criteria
  • Admitted to a participating hospital; or
  • Died in the emergency department of a participating hospital after treatment was initiated (not admitted).

ISS stands for Injury Severity Score. ISS is an anatomical scoring tool that provides an overall score for patients with single system or multiple system injuries.  The higher the ISS, the more severe the patient's injuries.

To ensure all appropriate patients are included into the Alberta Trauma Registry, all injury admissions, discharges and emergency department resuscitations are reviewed and screened at the trauma centers on a daily basis.  Patients are selected for review based on discharge diagnoses.

The Health Information Act (HIA) Section 27(1) (g), outlines clearly the parameters whereby Trauma Services is authorized to collect data.  Up to 500 data elements are collected for each patient through chart abstraction.

The performance of the overall trauma system is measured in various ways, such as:

• Collection, documentation and review of performance indicators.
• Other measures of performance include applications of the data to internal quality and safety initiatives, research, resource utilization, education, injury prevention initiatives, and outcome studies.

The Alberta Trauma Registry supports unique projects by providing the ability to customize the registry and to write queries and reports.

Data Research

The process to request data from the Alberta Trauma Registry is as follows:

• Alberta Trauma Registry Data Request Process

Non-Research Data Request

Complete Non-Research Data Request Form if you need non-research related data extract or reports from the Alberta Trauma Registry.

Research Data Request

Complete Research Data Request Form for any research-related data extract or reports from the Alberta Trauma Registry.

Data Dictionary

View the data dictionary.

If you have any questions, contact the Provincial Trauma Epidemiologist, Chinyere (Chichi) Nwafor-Okoli at chinyere.nwafor-okoli@ahs.ca  – 403-944-2919.