Traumatic brain injury: designing and implementing a population-based follow-up system.

Abstract

Craig Hospital and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment began designing a population-based follow-up system for persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 1994. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Colorado TBI Follow-up System addresses the issue, "What happens to persons with TBI after they are discharged from the hospital?" Two methods of data collection are used, medical record review and annual telephone surveys to gather long-term outcomes. The design calls for following all persons hospitalized with severe TBI (defined as any person with inpatient rehabilitation and/or with an Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] score for the head of 3 or greater) and a 20% random sample of persons hospitalized with less severe TBI. An expert panel was used to select variables for retrospective abstracting and prospective interviewing. Information obtained from medical records includes data verifying eligibility, diagnoses, radiological results, circumstances of injury, and severity of injury, as well as demographic data. The interview instrument includes questions and scales related to health status, disability, handicap, quality of life, and service utilization. Both methods of data collection have been pilot-tested and are now used routinely in the Colorado TBI Follow-up System.