title: Process evaluation of software using the international classification of external causes of injuries for collecting burn injury data at burn centers in the United States.
abstract: Detailed information on the cause of burns is necessary to construct effective prevention programs. The International Classification of External Causes of Injury (ICECI) is a data collection tool that allows comprehensive categorization of multiple facets of injury events. The objective of this study was to conduct a process evaluation of software designed to improve the ease of use of the ICECI so as to identify key additional variables useful for understanding the occurrence of burn injuries, and compare this software with existing data-collection practices conducted for burn injuries. The authors completed a process evaluation of the implementation and ease of use of the software in six U.S. burn centers. They also collected preliminary burn injury data and compared them with existing variables reported to the American Burn Association's National Burn Repository (NBR). The authors accomplished their goals of 1) creating a data-collection tool for the ICECI, which can be linked to existing operational programs of the NBR, 2) training registrars in the use of this tool, 3) establishing quality-control mechanisms for ensuring accuracy and reliability, 4) incorporating ICECI data entry into the weekly routine of the burn registrar, and 5) demonstrating the quality differences between data collected using this tool and the NBR. Using this or similar tools with the ICECI structure or key selected variables can improve the quantity and quality of data on burn injuries in the United States and elsewhere and thus can be more useful in informing prevention strategies.
authors.affiliation: From the *University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, Chapel Hill; †Cisalva Institute, University of El Valle, Cali, Colombia; ‡AArizona Burn Center, Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix; §Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; ‖Torrance Memorial Medical Center Burn Center, Torrance, California; ¶Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine; and #Department of Surgery, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villaveces
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peck
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Faraklas
authors.forename: Naiwei
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hsu-Chang
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wibbenmeyer
mesh_terms: D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011786:Quality Control; D012984:Software; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology