NEWS
2010 - 07 - 19 Feasibility study for a national trauma register in Luxemburg
In June 2010, the Centre for Health Studies submitted to the Health Minister its report on a feasibility study for implementing a national trauma register in Luxemburg.
While all European countries have established trauma registers for collecting information that should prove useful in preventing accidents, Luxemburg is still one of the last countries in Europe not to have a permanent surveillance system for this public health problem.
The Ministry of Health had asked the Centre for Health Studies to carry out a feasibility study so as to examine the possibility of implementing a national trauma register based on hospital accident and emergency departments.
The pilot study was carried out with Luxemburg City Hospital. It enabled testing of data collection, measurement of compliance with this type of register by both population and health professionals, development of the necessary tools, exploration of the care arrangements for people suffering traumatic injury, and to obtain an initial appreciation of the frequency, severity, and nature of the traumas arriving at the hospital accident and emergency department, and finally testing of Luxemburg’s ability to produce European-level indicators on traumas.
From this study, it transpires that traumatic injuries represent a major share of hospital admissions, result on average in longer stays in hospital, occasion the need for out-patient care, and in some cases are the cause of death.
The information collected in this kind of register does provide a source for building preventive and public health programmes.
This report should enable the Ministry of Health to decide whether there is a need to set up a national trauma register in Luxemburg.
Contact: Marie-Lise Lair or Dritan Bejko