Rating AIS severity using emergency department sheets vs. inpatient charts.

To determine whether sufficiently accurate estimates of injury severity can be based on limited data as would be available from an Emergency Department (ED) Sheet, Abbreviated Injury Severity (AIS) scores were derived for 166 trauma patients using two different sources of data--the ED sheet and inpatient medical chart. These severity scores were compared by type of person assigning the scores and by external cause of the injury. Results indicate that in general, the ED sheet is not a suitable alternative to the complete inpatient chart when coding severity for individuals who sustain injuries severe enough to result in hospital admission.