Developing a national registry of veterans with spinal cord dysfunction: experiences and implications

We describe the development of a registry of veterans with spinal cord dysfunction who have been treated within the Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities. The registry departs from the function and structure of traditional registries by a more extensive utilization of advances in computer technology; in particular, by its reliance upon computerized record linkage and by its association with a set of computer-based clinical management and reporting tools. We discuss some of the applications of the registry to research for persons with spinal cord dysfunction as well as implications that our experiences provide for developing other registries of persons with disabilities.