• Wounds and injuries
• multiple trauma
• registries
• cardiac care
• care system
• trauma
• epidemiology

The precise definition of data points in a trauma registry might seem a rather esoteric subject. However, in order to evaluate outcomes in any medical condition, a “like for like” comparison must be made. For cardiac arrest outcomes, the Utstein Template has become the standard method of reporting.1 A similar set of definitions has recently been published for the description of trauma care—the Utstein Trauma Template2—which describes patient factors (physiological and anatomical), operational factors (such as personnel and timing) and system factors (such as levels of care).

The Utstein Trauma Template was derived from a series of consensus conferences that brought together clinicians involved with trauma registries across Europe. The various European trauma registries are at different stages of development, use different …