Trauma Data Registry

Iowa's Trauma Registry

The Iowa Department of Public Health hosts a statewide trauma patient registry. The registry is a web-based system used to collect specific information about patients that have experienced significant traumatic events. All hospitals in Iowa are required to report these data elements. In order to ensure information is collected consistently, the Iowa Department of Public Health provides a Trauma Registry Data Dictionary. This document outlines the requirements for submission and defines each data element within the registry. Click the following link to access the Iowa Trauma Patient Data Dictionary (January 2017).  The data collect through the registry is used for hospital, service area, and statewide performance improvement. The confidentiality of patients is maintained throughout these processes. 

The trauma registry is a secure system to ensure submitted data remains confidential. Only authorized personnel have access to submit data to the registry. The following is a link to the Trauma Registry sign-in page: Iowa State Patient Registry-ImageTrend.

ICD-10 Resources

In 2015, the United States converted from using ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 codes for reporting injury and procedure data. There is significantly more detail provided in the ICD-10 system. Two resources have been provided as a reference to support ICD-10 reporting. Click on the link to access the ICD 10 Code Reference website. This website can be used to search for ICD-10 codes. The second is a document of commonly used procedural codes that may be used as a quick reference guide. ICD 10 Procedural Code Reference 

Trauma Inclusion Criteria

A trauma patient meets inclusion criteria for the registry if they have a qualifying trauma diagnosis code, and are either admitted, transferred, or die. If the trauma team is activated, the patient qualifies for the registry regardless of diagnosis or emergency department disposition. This document provides a flowchart for registry inclusion, as well as a few examples. Trauma Inclusion Criteria for ICD-10 updated in 2019. 

Annual Trauma Reports

Data from the trauma registry is used to create annual reports on the trauma system in Iowa. The annual report includes the details of the magnitude of injury in Iowa, the organization of trauma care, and the performance of care and outcomes.  The Trauma System Advisory Council's System Evaluation and Quality Improvement Subcommittee routinely reviews the data for system improvement recommendations.  The data is used by hospitals to drive performance improvement activities.  Aggregate data from the registry is used by the trauma service areas to help inform overall improvements to the trauma system.  Data from 2015 is unavailable due to registry migration. 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2014 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2016 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2017 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2018 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2019 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2020 

Iowa Trauma Registry Report 2021 

National Trauma Data Bank

The National Trauma Data Bank^® (NTDB^®)  is the largest aggregation of U.S. trauma registry data ever assembled. Participation is voluntary and is one of the leading performance improvement tools of trauma care. You will find the operational definitions for the NTDB in the National Trauma Data Standard (NTDS) Data Dictionary, which is designed to establish a national standard for the exchange of trauma registry data. Registry data that is collected from the NTDB is compiled annually and disseminated in the forms of hospital benchmark reports, data quality reports, and research data sets.  

National Trauma Data Standard Data Dictionary

Instructions for the NTDB export utility in ImageTrend are contained in this instructional video: https://youtu.be/pEDc_GTgVc4

Local Trauma Registry Reports

The State of Iowa Trauma Registry has the capability to run registry-based reports to assist a trauma program with registry utilization for performance improvement and patient safety, as well as outreach and education.  The following document outlines several such reports that may be useful to a trauma program.  For any additional questions regarding the registry and report writer, please contact the BETS Statistical Research Analyst Danny Dowd at danny.dowd@idph.iowa.gov

Trauma Registry Performance Improvement Reports 

Registry Tutorials

Tutorials for the state trauma registry can be found on the Trauma Program Manager Manual, "Supervision of the Trauma Registry" tab, located here: Registry Tutorials.

This page was last updated June 2022