Criteria
Inclusion/Exclusion criteria
Eligible patients
To ensure the VSTR captures all major trauma patients in Victoria, broad-based inclusion criteria are used. The VSTR captures trauma patients whose principal diagnosis is injury, irrespective of age, and who meet any of the registry criteria and none of the exclusion. The first four inclusion criteria are based on those recommended in the ROTES report. The remaining criteria are screening filters to capture the wider population of potentially major trauma patients.
The VSTR patient inclusion criteria
- All deaths after injury
- All patients admitted to an intensive care unit or high-dependency area for more than 24 hours and mechanically ventilated after admission
- Significant injury to two or more ISS body regions (an AIS of 2 or more in two or more body regions) or an ISS greater than 12
- Urgent surgery for intracranial, intrathoracic or intraabdominal injury, or fixation of pelvic or spinal fractures
- Electrical injuries, drowning and asphyxia, admitted to an intensive care unit and having mechanical ventilation for longer than 24 hours or death after injury
- All patients with injury as their principal diagnosis whose length of stay is three days or more – unless they meet exclusion criteria
- All patients with injury as their principal diagnosis transferred or received from another health service for further emergency care or admitted to a high dependency area – unless they meet exclusion criteria
( ISS = Injury Severity Score; AIS = Abbreviation Injury Scale)
The VSTR patient exclusion criteria
- Isolated fractured neck of femur
- Isolated upper limb joint dislocation, shoulder girdle dislocation (unless associated with vascular compromise) and toe/foot/knee joint dislocation – unless meets inclusion criteria 1, 2 or 4
- Isolated closed-limb fractures only (for example, fractured femur, Colles’ fracture) – unless meets inclusion criteria 1, 2 or 4
- Isolated injuries distal to the wrist and ankle only (for example, finger amputations) – unless meets inclusion criteria 1, 2 or 4
- Soft tissue injuries only (for example, tendon and nerve injury and uncomplicated skin injuries) – unless meets inclusion criteria 1, 2 or 4
- Burns to less than 10 per cent of the body – unless meets inclusion criteria 1, 2 or 4 7. Isolated eyeball injury