We propose inclusion of early clinical hospital events to better understand the effects of early injury and in-hospital events on functional outcomes and risk factors for recovery. Our hypothesis for this project is that events after a burn injury related to health care delivery impact functional recovery of patients with burn injuries. We address this hypothesis with two specific aims:
Specific Aim 1: Early events after injury impact long-term outcomes for burn survivors. Our approach to this aim will include abstraction of data from the site-specific trauma registry, which is collected for submission to the National Trauma Data Base. This addition to our BMS database would allow us to address the hypothesis that compartment syndrome during the first 24 hours after a burn injury has long-lasting effects on physical function.
Specific Aim 2: In-hospital events impact long term outcomes for burn survivors. Our approach to this aim will involve abstraction of clinical data including ICD-10 codes from the electronic health record. This addition to our BMS database would allow us to address the hypothesis that hospital-acquired infections have long-lasting effects on functional recovery.