Development And Implementation Of A Comprehensive Registry For Shoulder Injuries And Surgical Interventions

PURPOSE: There is a need for comprehensive patient-centered data to inform and enhance surgical management of patients with shoulder injuries in both the athletic and general orthopaedic populations. The objective of this project was to identify key focus areas for a shoulder injury and surgery with the ultimate goal of developing a comprehensive and multi-site registry for orthopaedic shoulder joint care. METHODS: We began by identifying the most pressing issues related to shoulder injuries and reviewing current documentation practices. This process included consulting fellowship-trained sports medicine orthopaedic surgeons with specific specialization in shoulder surgery to gather insights into clinical and surgical data needs. We conducted literature reviews and epidemiological analyses using sports injury surveillance data to characterize shoulder injury patterns and concurrently assessed clinical documentation practices for these injuries and related surgical interventions. After defining the primary issues and resource requirements, we evaluated various data collection systems, including survey platforms, custom-built solutions, and established surveillance models. RESULTS: Shoulder dislocations and rotator cuff injuries emerged as the most frequent shoulder-related issues in athletic and general populations. Surgeons varied significantly in their documentation of rotator cuff injuries, surgical details and post-operative follow-up metrics. Leveraging existing coding mechanisms proved to be insufficient to populate a thorough and comprehensive registry. Synchronization of existing data capture with additional clinical, surgical, radiographic and outcomes data will be essential elements to include at all sites involved in data capture. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the ideal approach for this multi-site registry would be a tailored framework incorporating common data elements (CDEs) and back-end algorithms to standardize data capture and management for shoulder injuries and related surgeries. This custom-built strategy will ensure consistency and high-quality data tracking, addressing the need for harmonized documentation across clinical settings.