title: Surveillance by casualty attendance registers.
abstract: Health managers need trauma data, but appropriate information is often lacking. The challenge is to develop affordable and sustainable information systems. The article describes the development of a regional trauma database and an evaluation of a basic surveillance methodology. A comprehensive survey was conducted of first-time attenders with fatal and nonfatal trauma from both state and private sectors in metropolitan Cape Town, South Africa, and a hospital-based survey was conducted of nonfatal trauma in the surrounding rural areas. In four state hospitals, a standardized adaptation of casualty attendance registers was evaluated to determine whether such registers could be used to establish a trauma surveillance system. The two cross-sectional studies covered a population of 3.4 million and provided detailed data. The evaluation of the register highlighted problems and indicated how to establish a register-based trauma surveillance system. Although such surveys yield comprehensive local data, there is a need for salient regional and national surveillance data. Minor modifications of casualty attendance registers may provide this without much additional effort and expense.
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steenkamp
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Spuy
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012042:Registries; D012424:Rural Population; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*