UAE’s new injury database ‘will be a lifesaver’

The registry will record the vital statistics of each patient, the severity of their injury, the reason for their injury and when and where it was sustained.

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ABU DHABI // A life-saving database that records every injury treated in Abu Dhabi hospitals will be up and running by the end of the year.

The trauma registry will record the vital statistics of each patient, the severity of their injury, the reason for their injury and when and where it was sustained.

The database will be the first of its kind in the UAE. Al Rahba Hospital in Abu Dhabi opened its own trauma registry in 2010 but there has never been an emirate-wide system.

“The registry will collect data on trauma causes across the emirate to be analysed and to be used for the development of trauma care,” said Dr Saleh Saif Fares, deputy head of Zayed Military Hospital’s emergency department. “It will save lives.”

Al Rahba was used as a launch pad from which to expand the wider registry. “We wanted to take the concept and really take it to an emirate level,” Dr Fares said.

Its registry will be extended to incorporate seven other hospitals: Al Noor, Mafraq, Al Gharbia Hospital, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Zayed Military, Tawam and Al Ain.

It will eventually be extended to include all the emirate’s hospitals. “Then, hopefully, the entire country,” said Dr Fares.

The registry will play a major part in furthering trauma care in the emirate. “The trauma registry is the biggest achievement we have had in the entire trauma system in Abu Dhabi,” Dr Fares said.

“It will give us a full picture … and will reduce the risk and burden of disease to the individual and to the healthcare system.”

Dr Fares, who is a co-chairman of the Abu Dhabi Trauma System initiative, said the challenges of establishing such a system in Abu Dhabi included a lack of funding and a lack of coordination among affected entities.

The trauma registry is being financed by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi.

Frediric Micheal Hustey, an emergency medical specialist from the Cleveland Clinic in the United States, said the UAE’s trauma care system had developed dramatically since he attended the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress last year.

“It has come on in leaps and bounds,” he said. “Everything that has been done and everything that has been accomplished – it is very impressive.”

He said a registry would play a key part in improving the quality of trauma care.

“A trauma registry is always a great thing,” he said. “A trauma registry helps you look at the quality of care you are providing and helps you see where your shortcomings are and use that to improve what you are doing.

“You can look at outcomes and you can see that a certain hospital has great outcomes and another hospital doesn’t have such great outcomes – you can share information. One hospital can make another hospital better.”

jbell@thenational.ae