title: Improving Outcomes Following Extremity Trauma: The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach.
abstract: Extremity injuries contribute a significant amount to the overall disability of combat-injured soldiers. Tracking patient outcomes allows military health care providers to gain a better understanding of the disability associated with various injury patterns. Only recently have orthopedic surgeons begun to collect functional outcome measures, and perhaps even more importantly, have begun to collect patient-reported outcomes. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to optimize outcomes in patients following severe extremity trauma. Tracking the outcomes of these interventions longitudinally will ultimately provide the military surgeon with an evidence-based plan to treat severe combat-related extremity injuries, leading to optimal care for future combat injured patients. "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."-Winston Churchill.
authors.affiliation: The Center for the Intrepid, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Brooke Army Medical Center, 3851 Rogers Brooke Drive, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stinner
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D005121:Extremities / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D000075762:Interdisciplinary Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000639:trends; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*