National Spinal Injuries Unit

Data Collection Type
National data collections of health and social care in Ireland
Organisation

Mater Misericordiae University Hospital

Year established

2008 — Excel database.
2012 — Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS) established.

Statement of purpose

To capture all spinal injury referrals, outpatient department (OPD) and admissions for the MMUH.

Coverage

National.

Description

This is a register for all spinal patients referred for consultation/ admission to the MMUH. It uses Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS) software.

Data content

Demographics; mechanism; type and location of injury; American Spinal Injury Association Score; advice given; procedure information for inpatients.

Data providers

All Irish public hospitals.

Data collection methodology

Referral forms are faxed from referring hospital (end of last year this was changed to receive electronic referrals), then if the patient is admitted to the MMUH, data from the medical inpatient chart is inputted by a data manager.

Data dictionary

International Spinal Cord Injury Core Data Set (available on request).

Clinical coding scheme

International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).

Size of national collection

Approximately 400 records created on average annually (new cases).

Publication frequency

Six-monthly and annual reports for audit and research purposes.

Accessing data

Contact the Spinal Data Manager in the Orthopaedic Department, MMUH.

Open data portal access

No

Telephone contact