Trauma program leaders use trauma scores to monitor and improve quality of care. Three of the most important trauma scoring systems are the Injury Severity Score (ISS), the New Injury Severity Score (NISS) and the Trauma Injury Severity Score (TRISS). ISS and NISS are very similar, and TRISS is based in part on ISS. All…
Author: Amy Brammer
Amy Brammer, Kathy Cookman, Jessica Pemberton
Amy Brammer, MSN, RN, TCRN, TNS, CEN, CAISS, CSTR, NHDP-BC is trauma program director at Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center. She is also chair of the Abbreviated Injury Scale Certification Board and faculty for the Abbreviated Injury Scaling Course.
In 2024 more than 500 data professionals took the Certified Abbreviated Injury Scale Specialist (CAISS) Examination, the largest one-year total in the history of this program. As interest in CAISS certification grows, we have been receiving more queries about the test itself and the testing process. Here are answers to a dozen common questions about…
One new requirement in Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient (2022 Standards) is that every trauma center must have at least one trauma registrar who is a Certified Abbreviated Injury Scale Specialist (CAISS). While many trauma programs are already in compliance with this requirement (Standard 4.32), many other centers have had to work…
Isolated hip fracture (IHF) is one of the most common injuries seen in trauma centers. In the U.S., 340,000 people are hospitalized for IHF every year. These fractures typically result from low-velocity, ground-level falls, and they are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly patients. The risk of a 50-year-old woman developing an…
Approximately 10,000 patients were treated for fireworks injuries in the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Nearly three-quarters of these injuries occurred during a one-month period around the Fourth of July. Trauma registrars will soon see an influx of charts for patients with fireworks trauma, so now is a…
In the last Trauma Registry Q&A column, we explained the difference between the Injury Severity Score (ISS), the New Injury Severity Score (NISS) and the Trauma Injury Severity Score (TRISS). These scores have been validated for adult injury patients, but can they also be used for pediatric trauma patients? The short answer is yes. All…
Most physicians know very little about the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), the scoring system used to calculate a patient’s Injury Severity Score (ISS). AIS codes are assigned by trauma registrars, a process that takes place largely “behind the scenes” at a busy trauma center. However, simple mistakes or omissions in documentation can negatively impact AIS…
The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is the international standard tool for documenting injury details and ranking injury severity. If an injury is not in the AIS dictionary, it cannot be coded. Unfortunately, this is becoming a real problem for many trauma registrars and researchers. Here’s the issue: As their understanding of trauma improves, trauma data…