A patient registry for orthopedic surgery

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Medical Informatics
• Health Administration

Background:

• Identifying specific patient groups for clinical studies and documenting resident experience is challenging.
• Existing diagnostic and procedural codes are often insufficient, especially in multi-institutional teaching programs.
• Administrative tasks related to patient data management are time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel patient registry system for orthopedic surgery data.
• To improve the efficiency and accuracy of identifying patient subpopulations.
• To support administrative and retrospective clinical study needs in a teaching hospital setting.

Main Methods:

• Development of a patient registry system for orthopedic patients treated by surgical residents.
• Implementation of a multidimensional encoding scheme based on SNOMED (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine).
• Integration of free-text fields for detailed patient information alongside structured data.

Main Results:

• The registry system facilitates efficient storage and retrieval of orthopedic patient data.
• The encoding scheme and free-text support provide a powerful and versatile data management solution.
• The system addresses limitations of standard coding systems in defining specific patient subpopulations.

Conclusions:

• The developed patient registry system offers a versatile and powerful tool for managing orthopedic patient data.
• It effectively aids in identifying patient subpopulations for research, education, and administrative purposes.
• This system enhances data accessibility and utility within a complex teaching hospital environment.