Ongoing Projects
Injury Outcomes Data Evaluation System
2021- Current
The NSC utilizes data collected by various state agencies to provide a complete description of a patient's illness or injury, from the point of care, through hospital admission, and extending to long term outcomes. These data are obtained by the National Study Center as part of the Injury/Illness Outcome Data Evaluation System (IODES) and will support the research of NSC faculty into all aspects of the care for the ill and injured in Maryland that require EMS services.
Combat Triage Clinical Decision Support
2024-2026
The military faces the likelihood of large-scale combat operations (LSCO) with extended prolonged prehospital care and the need for life-saving interventions (LSIs) during transport and upon arrival to role 2 surgical capabilities. The development of automated analyses of physiologic data to support clinical decisions can improve the performance of medical providers in the field and the hospital, to guide the need for early and appropriate blood product delivery, damage control resuscitation/surgery, and LSIs. Valid and reliable early warning systems will improve facility-based surgical team readiness, particularly in the setting of multiple casualties or non-compressible torso hemorrhage that is otherwise difficult to identify. These algorithms will enhance triage, optimize medical decision-making, prioritize resource allocation, and target casualties requiring care provider expertise.
ORIOLES Equity Indicator
2023-2024
The NSC developed an equity indicator to be used by MHSO to ensure traffic safety measures and resources are equitably applied. The Overburdened and Risk Indicator Outcomes at Locations for Equity and Safety (ORIOLES) is a GIS dashboard that highlights disadvantaged and marginalized zip codes in Maryland.
Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN)
2022-Current
The Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) is multi-center data collection program funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that aims to improve the prevention and treatment of injuries in motor vehicle and pedestrian crashes. Each case undergoes a thorough medical chart review, injury analysis, in-depth vehicle crash investigations and scene investigations. The collected data is used to determine injury biomechanics and factor that influence injury causation and severity. Cases then undergo a joint review with the medical center, assigned engineering center, NHTSA, and external partners, including OEMs or local Highway Safety Offices.
CIREN Transportation Linkage and Cost of Injury Analysis
2024-Current
Beginning in 2024, the NSC received an additional CIREN grant for a project titled “Transportation Linkage and Cost of Injury Analysis.” The project consisted of matching and linking Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) data, Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) data, CIREN data, and Shock Trauma Registry data. By doing this the NSC can determine what body parts contribute most to the cost of treatment.
District of Columbia Highway Safety Office Seatbelt Project
2024-Current
The DC HSO Seatbelt Project is an annually funded project where the NSC will be managing and supporting the data collection on seatbelt usage rates throughout the District of Columbia. Data collection will include information on the drivers and front seat passengers of passenger cars, vans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pick-up trucks, and other vehicles below 10,000 pounds of gross vehicle weight. Data is collected electronically using iPads, allowing for streamlined storage and analysis. This analysis enables the NSC to determine the percentage of seatbelt use within the district. A final report, outlining DC seatbelt rates will be completed following the data collection process.
Maryland Highway Safety Office Seatbelt Project
2019-Current
The Maryland Seatbelt Use Project is an annual MHSO funded project the NSC supervises and reports on. The NSC is responsible for collecting data on seatbelt usage in drivers and front seat passengers of passenger cars, vans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pick-up trucks, and other vehicles below 10,000 pounds of gross vehicle weight. Data is collected on occupants driving on primary (interstate roadways), secondary (arterial roadways), and local roads throughout the state of Maryland. Data is collected electronically using iPads, allowing for streamlined storage and analysis. This analysis enables the NSC to determine the percentage of seatbelt use statewide.
MCTSA Traffic Records
This project, funded by the Maryland Highway Safety Office, aims to provide analytic support to our State partners through MCTSA requests, specifically pertaining to citation and adjudication data. Under this project, the NSC also provides analytical support and data expertise as all Maryland State Emphasis Area Team and Traffic Records meetings.
Past Projects
A Multi–State Integrated Data Approach to Analyzing Older Occupant Motor Vehicle Crash and Injury Risk Factors
2017-2021
In partnership with the University of Utah, the University of Kentucky, and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Ohio), the NSC worked on a three-year CDC grant is responsible for linking traffic records data and hospital data to examine the types and severity of injuries sustained by motor vehicle crash occupants ages 65 and older. Data is analyzed to look at the cost of non-fatal motor vehicle crash injuries in this population.
Toxicology of Motor Vehicle Drivers Involved in Fatal Crash
2019-2020
The NSC partnered with the CDC to measure the reduction of blood alcohol concentration in fatally injured persons from the time of admission at the STC to the time of testing done by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). Additionally, the NSC worked with OCME to conduct toxicology tests in fatally injured motor vehicle drivers looking at the use of marijuana and other licit and illicit drugs.
Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES)
The NSC has compiled information from a variety of databases into what is known as the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES), consisting of traffic records data and hospital data. Portions of CODES data are used in the Maryland Strategic Highway Safety Plan, the MHSO annual report, and is used to support problem identification and program evaluation statewide.
Predictive Modeling of Crash Trends in Maryland
2019-2022
Beginning in 2019, the NSC worked alongside Impact Research, LLC, to model the relationship between changes in key behavioral, economic, policy, environmental, and demographic factors in Maryland with observed changes in serious and fatal injury motor vehicle crashes by county from 2010 to 2020. The model provides a better understanding of the factors that play a role in crash trends. A website was created that allows decision-makers and other stakeholders to estimate the expected change in injury-involved crashes expected for a given change in each risk factor.
Maryland State Pedestrian Fatality Review Team
2019-2021
In 2019, the Pedestrian Fatality Review was developed, funded by the Maryland Highway Safety Office, to review fatal pedestrian crashes from 2018, and determine possible contributing factors and countermeasures. A multidisciplinary team that included researchers, law enforcement, engineers, physicians and other stakeholders performed the reviews. Following the conclusion of the reviews in 2021, the NSC found that poor visibility of pedestrians and impaired walking were the primary contributors to pedestrian fatality crashes in the State of Maryland.
Crash Risk Associated with Drug and Alcohol Use by Drivers in Fatal and Serious Injury Crashes
2020-2021
On a grant from NHTSA the NSC studied crash risk and toxicology among all roadway users. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was expanded to include COVID-19 surveillance of the trauma population. Every enrollment included patient demographics, mechanism of injury, EMS, treatment and outcomes and COVID-19 testing.
Maryland Department of Health – Injury Surveillance (TBI and self-harm)
2019, 2021
The NSC took part in the CDC’s multi-state medical review that aimed to develop injury case definitions using emergency department data. This was done in partnership with Johns Hopkins, Colorado, Kentucky and Massachusetts. The NSC was responsible for extracting medical charts that contained ICD-10 codes for adult patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) to determine what percentage of cases with ICD-10 codes related to TBI’s.
Baltimore City Casino Research Study
2021
Following the opening of the Casino in Baltimore City, the Maryland Department of Health Behavioral Health Administration funded an NSC project that examined the ratio of police-reported traffic crashes within one mile of the casino after opening compared to before opening. Results were adjusted for impairment and day of the week.
Functional Roadway Classification
2024
The NSC worked on integrating admission and treatment records for patients admitted to STC post motor vehicle crash from 2016 to 2021 with police reported crash data and Functional Roadway Classification (FRC) data from MDOT. The dataset included patient toxicology data, police crash data, classification of roadway on which the crash occurred, and patient demographics. Findings were presented at the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in January 2024 and a report will be submitted to Analytic Methods in Accident Research.
Evaluating the Relation between Stay-at-home Orders and COVID-19 Spread
2020-2021
This study was funded by the National Science Foundation and evaluated the correlations between traffic volume reduction and hospital caseload for COVID-19 patients. The study determined that a strong correlation between traffic volumes and hospitalizations are confounded by many factors that were outside the scope of the study, including changing landscape of admitting COVID-19 patients, social distancing and mask use, non-auto modes of travel, and other factors.
Vulnerable Road User Density and Crash Exposure Risk Dashboard
This project was funded under the Safety Data Initiative of the US Department of Transportation. The study was a collaboration between the Maryland Department of Transportation, University of Maryland College Park, and the National Study Center for Trauma and Medicine. The study developed measures of vulnerable road user (pedestrians, bicyclists, etc. users outside motor vehicles) prevalence and density at every roadway link and intersection in Maryland. The densities were analyzed with the crash frequencies to develop a risk assessment matrix aimed at identifying high-risk locations for further analysis and countermeasure development.