ONCE DISMISSED by a renowned (nonsurgical) researcher as an oxymoronic term, trauma research may be on the ascendancy as a result of two recent initiatives: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Trauma Research Task Force and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Trauma Care Information Management System. Although it has taken many years to develop, successful implementation of these initiatives is pivotal to the future of the many facets of trauma research, and their outcomes could substantially change the impetus of trauma research and broaden its scope in the very near future.
BACKGROUND
The 1966 report1 by the National Research Council identified injury as the neglected disease of modern society. Specifically, the report stated that although injury in the United States caused more years of lost productivity and cost more per year than any other disease, research on injury prevention, epidemiology, acute care, and rehabilitation was sadly lacking. The