Are national hospital data adequate for coding injury severity?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether accurate severity scores, using the abbreviated injury scale (AIS), could be produced from hospital discharge data held on the National Health Statistics Centre (NHSC) computer files. The data from two New Zealand trauma studies, in which AIS scores had been assigned to patient injuries, were linked to the patient data on NHSC computer files and AIS scores assigned for those injuries that were present. Sixty-five percent of the injuries for which a link was made were scorable and of these, there was 54% agreement between the AIS scores generated from NHSC data and the scores from the trauma studies. Percent agreement varied with body area, whether the injury was from a single or multiple injury victim, and with the severity of injury. Recommendations include a revision of data collection and NHSC data coding to incorporate AIS scores, and to educate medical personnel regarding AIS in order that they collect appropriate information so that AIS may be coded on the patient's discharge form.