Trauma registrar training: integrating registry functions into the trauma program--Part 2.

Effective health-information management is heavily reliant upon the data-collection process of the health care program. This is also true in trauma-care systems, where healthcare providers have come to rely on timely access to complete and accurate information to support many critical functions of a trauma program. The process by which data are collected and analyzed deserves constant attention and reassessment. Data obtained in reports and analyses are only as accurate as the data abstraction and validation processes allow. The University of Pennsylvania Health System Trauma Network recognizes this, and as a result, developed this training and orientation guideline. This guideline supports the importance of the registry role in the overall trauma program, but most importantly, it fosters and supports a team approach to data collection, which in our experience has allowed us to develop and maintain trauma registry databases which provides valid, useful and current information for all.