# Exploring the Long-Term Disability Outcomes in Trauma Patients: Study Protocol

## TL;DR

This study aims to create a digital trauma registry in Pakistan to track long-term outcomes of trauma patients, focusing on disability and quality of life.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the development of a digital trauma registry in a low-resource setting to capture long-term patient-reported outcomes.

## Key findings

- The registry will collect data at multiple time points post-injury to assess disability and quality of life.
- Telephonic follow-ups will be used to gather data from patients and caregivers in low-resource settings.
- The registry aims to identify barriers to recovery and inform trauma care improvements in Pakistan.

## Abstract

Post-discharge patient-reported outcomes from trauma registries can be used to measure trauma care quality. However, studies reflecting the Asian experience are limited. Therefore, we aim to develop a digital trauma registry to prospectively capture patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at one-, three-, six-, and twelve-months post-injury in Pakistan.

We will use a cohort study design to develop a digital trauma registry at two tertiary care facilities (Aga Khan University Hospital & Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center) in Karachi, Pakistan. The registry will include all admitted adult trauma patients (≥18 years). Data collection will be digital using tablets, with mortality, level of disability, and functional status, quality of life being the outcomes. Telephonic interviews will be conducted with the patients and caregivers for follow-up data collection.

The high disability burden following accidental trauma imposes a significant burden and cost on individuals and society. Therefore, the trauma registry would fill this gap by capturing post-discharge long-term PROs. It will provide the injured patient’s post-discharge situation, challenges, and future directions for incorporating long-term PROs in low-resource settings. Including long-term measures in routine follow-ups will provide insights into physical, social, and policy barriers and help advance injury care research.