New York State Trauma Program

New York State Regional Trauma Quality Improvement Program

The Regional Trauma Quality Improvement (QI) Program consists of eight (8) regional trauma systems and a total of forty-three (43) individual trauma centers. The programs's goal is to improve patient outcomes through the effective delivery of services and care within each system.

To achieve this goal, the program takes a multi-pronged approach to quality assurance. One activity is the quarterly regional QI Meetings, which include all representatives of the emergency medical services (EMS) community. Best practices, injury prevention programs, system issues and trauma registry data reports are often a part of the agenda.

The Public Health Law Section 708.5 standards form the legal "minimum standards" for staffing, equipment, and services, and are the basis for trauma center site surveys. The Trauma QI program is supported by the State Trauma Advisory Committee, a group of trauma center professionals that meet quarterly to discuss, problem-solve, and research current issues within the trauma system

Key to the program is the Trauma Registry, a database of information collected on every trauma patient. Collected statewide by each trauma center, this information is analyzed by the regional trauma staff. The University at Albany's School of Public Health (SPH) also receives the data from all trauma centers.

New York State Trauma Registry - Data Dictionary

This Report was developed by the Department, the State Trauma Advisory Committee and the SUNY Albany School of Public Health. Trauma centers in NYS submit electronic information regarding seriously ill or injured patients who meet certain Injury Classification Diagnosis (ICD-9) codes. Each of the approximately 300 fields in the Data Dictionary describes identifying characteristics including field name, definition, acceptable values, data source, type, etc. It also includes whether the field is required to be reported to the State Trauma Registry.

We would like to acknowledge the members of the STAC Data Registry Subcommittee for tireless hours of work to compile and organize this document.

This Data Dictionary is an evolving work in progress. Consequently if you have any suggestions for improvements, please forward them to the Trauma Program Coordinator. Be sure to include the page number and a brief rationale for your suggestion.

The report is available in pdf format at the link listed below. For more information or to make suggestions, see contact information below:

Report of New York State Trauma System 1999 - 2002

This Report was developed by the Department, the State Trauma Advisory Committee and the SUNY Albany School of Public Health. It documents the efficacy of our activities in treating seriously ill and injured patients in the State trauma system.

The report uses data from the New York State Trauma Registry supplied by our trauma centers. The report details the mortality results by region, by level of hospital (Regional trauma center or Area trauma center) and by mechanism of injury. Two types of mortality are examined: inpatient mortality and in-hospital mortality (inpatient mortality or death in the emergency department). The report also discusses historical trends in mortality rates and compares our State with national rates. For the first time, we are presenting the mortality outcomes for each individual trauma center as well as for their region.

Records for 44,220 inpatients treated at trauma centers during 1999-2002 were used in the risk-adjustment models. The risk-adjusted mortality rate for inpatients decreased from 7.68% in 1999 to 7.23% in 2002. Also the New York State's trauma system mortality rate as compared to the national rate is significantly better.

The report is available in pdf format at the link listed below. For more information, contact:

Michael Tayler, RN, EMT-P
HPA-1 - Trauma Program Coordinator
433 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
(518) 402-0996 Ext. 2

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