Method to electronically collect emergency department data.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the development and completeness of an electronic injury-surveillance system, the Rural Injury Surveillance System (RISS).


METHODS
The emergency departments of nine rural Iowa hospitals submitted information on all patients treated from May 1993 through June 1994.


RESULTS
The EDs submitted information on 23,594 patients with 32,445 different injury, disease, or follow-up visits. On the basis of comparison with the handwritten ED logbook, 90% of visits were also available in the RISS. Of the visits recorded in the RISS, 99% were also recorded in the logbook. The proportion of missing diagnostic codes decreased from a high of 22.6% in May 1993 to 8.1% in June 1994. The proportion of missing external cause codes was about 25% at the end of the study period. The proportion of missing industry and occupational codes was less than 5% at the end of the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that complete, computerized, ED-based injury surveillance in rural EDs is possible and should be developed further.
Schootman
M
M
Division of Substance Abuse and Health Promotion, Iowa Department of Public Health, Des Moines.
Zwerling
C
C
Miller
E R
ER
Torner
J C
JC
Fuortes
L
L
Lynch
C F
CF
Merchant
J A
JA
Peterson
T D
TD
D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000592:standards*; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D008838:Microcomputers; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012984:Software; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology