Emergency department-based injury surveillance information system: A qualitative study of users’ requirements

Background: Injury surveillance information systems (ISISs) are responsible for continuous injury data collection, analysis, interpretation, and distribution. Since most injured people visit emergency departments (EDs), this system can be designed based on the ED data. Objective: This study aimed to investigate users’ requirements of an ED-based ISIS in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2020, and the purposive sampling method was used to recruit participants (n = 26) who were emergency medicine specialists, general practitioners (GPs), and nurses worked in six emergency departments and two trauma research centers. Managers and experts who worked in the center of accident and emergency services in other organizations and in the Ministry of Health were also invited to take part in the study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis methodology. Results: Four main themes including 1) current status of injury data documentation in the EDs, 2) injury surveillance data, 3) injury surveillance data sources and data flow, and 4) functions required for an ED-based ISIS, as well as 12 subthemes emerged from data analysis. According to the results, there was no electronic ED-based ISIS in the country, and a wide range of administrative and clinical data were collected about the injured people and saved in a variety of data sources. The use of clinical decision support systems and injury tracking systems along with many other functions were suggested for the future ED-based ISIS. Conclusion: ED-based ISIS helps in collecting data from multi-level data sources and improves planning for injury prevention. Although the findings of the present study can help designing such a system, investigating the requirements of other organizations that are involved in the process of injury data collection is essential.