Apri1 23, 1990 Dear Sirs: I am writing this letter in interest of the Hypercard program designed by Dr. Bill Burman, called "The Trauma Register". I find both the philosophy behind the program and the practicality of the program fantastic. I have had the program to work with only a relatively short time, but can see its applications very large within the field of orthopedics and orthopedic trauma. I think this program will be very helpful to orthopedists at every level of development. The combination of user-program interaction is very high, making the overall experience entertaining and educational. The format already is large but may be expanded to include expert directed solutions to difficult orthopedic problems within the same format. In addition, with few changes and additions operations may be planned using the same format with the additional benefit that they may be stored along with more demographic data. I am happy to be involved in this project and feel it will be of immeasurable value to orthopedic documentation and education. I hope you will review the materials provided by Dr. Burman and be struck with the same enthusiasm for the project that has been typical of our reaction. Yours sincerely, Jeffrey W. Mast M.D.
Charles McC. Mathias, Jr. National Study Center* for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems 22 South Greene Street * Baltimore, Maryland 21201-1595
5/17/90 William Burman, M.D. 604 Stage Rd. Monroe, N.Y. 10950 Dear Dr. Burman: I appreciate the opportunity to review the Macintosh HyperCard program "The Trauma Register". It is clearly the "new" generation of data systems and will significantly enhance the quality of trauma data collected. You've created an interface that physicians will use. It's easy, produces reports that physicians need in their daily activities, and it's educational. In addition, it's the first step towards development of decision support systems in trauma care. We at the National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems are involved with numerous trauma and EMS data collection and collection development efforts including the Maryland State-wide Trauma Register, the Maryland Ambulance Runsheet, and the Atlantic EMS Council Multi-state Register. We would like to test your software in these settings and look forward to meeting with you again in early June. Sincerely, Brad M. Cushing, M.D. Attending Traumatologist Director, Trauma Informatics Program *Designated by Joint Resolution of the Ninety-Ninth Congress of the United States of America (Public Law 99-476) and approved by the President on October 16, 1986.
Orthopaedic Trauma Association* 6300 N. River Road, Suite 727 * Rosemont, IL 60018-4226
Date: Mar 31, 2000
An Official Endorsement of the HyperCard based Trauma Register Program by the Orthopaedic Trauma Association
In recognition of sustained effort over a decade to improve the quality of core data used for orthopaedic trauma teaching and practice, The Orthopaedic Trauma Association hereby confers upon the Apple Macintosh Hypercard program, the Trauma Register, official status as an OTA instrument which is dedicated to the measurement of the efficacy of orthopaedic trauma care.
Its innovative use of networked hospital information resources, knowledge-coupling of data collection with "just-in-time" education, direct physician structured data entry input, medical alerts against potential complications, seamless integration of multiple image processing, mapping, web browsing, database, e-mail, text processing and scheduling applications has led to its deployment in 14 major North American and European trauma centers for a compilation of over 27,000 records despite an absence of any specific grant funding, local technical support and often, outright resistance of many networking and information technology services to the Macintosh operating system as required by the core Hypercard application.
While the work of EMR (electronic medical record) and of Outcome End Result Analysis (the final arbiter of the quality and cost of medical services rendered) remains incomplete, the Trauma Register Program continues to probe at the cutting edge of medical informatics in order to determine what works and what doesn't in the capture of a complete and accurate portrayal of the care of the injured patient.
In the Journal of Trauma 29:1667, 1989, Gillot et al, have stated:
"Maintenance of an active registry must be viewed as important as the medical care rendered, if the right person is going to receive the right treatment in a timely fashion without undue cost to society."
Consistent with this premise, the Trauma Register Program rates the official endorsement of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association.
*The Orthopaedic Trauma Association is devoted to encouraging research and disseminating knowledge about musculoskeletal injuries. It organizes multi-center research projects, provides a national forum for scientific papers related to orthopaedic trauma management, conducts educational courses and workshops, and represents orthopaedic traumatology in the Council of Musculoskeletal Specialty Societies of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.