Wound registry: development and validation.
OBJECTIVE
More than 11 million patients with traumatic wounds are seen annually in emergency departments. We developed and validated a data registry for traumatic wounds treated in the ED.


METHODS
Prospective, consecutive patient enrollment with a validation cohort of a convenience sample of 100 patients.


METHODS
University-affiliated hospital ED.


METHODS
For all patients with traumatic wounds requiring sutures, wound registry data sheets were completed at the time of initial visit using a closed-question format. Data recorded included demographic characteristics, time from injury to evaluation, pertinent medical history, wound characteristics, type of anesthesia, details of wound-cleansing methods, details of wound closure, and postoperative care. We devised a follow-up tool to evaluate for the presence of infection and short-term cosmetic appearance. Interphysician reliability was assessed for wound description, presence of infection, and cosmetic appearance by use of the kappa statistic.


RESULTS
A wound registry data collection instrument that takes less than 1 minute to complete and enables the collection of most wound management techniques used by emergency physicians was found to have substantial interobserver concordance for wound description (kappa range, .55 to .97), wound infection (kappa = 1.0) and overall cosmetic appearance (kappa = .61).


CONCLUSIONS
The wound registry is a reliable data collection instrument that is easy to use. It may be useful as a continuous quality-improvement tool or for standardization of wound surveillance and treatment data to facilitate future prospective studies in wound management.
Hollander
J E
JE
Department of Emergency Medicine, University Medical Center, State University of New York Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook, USA.
Singer
A J
AJ
Valentine
S
S
Henry
M C
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000209:etiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy