LAUSR

As electronic medical records become more prevalent and pubic reporting of outcomes increases in scope, a new challenge has merged for researchers: exponential growth of data. The sheer olume of information makes navigating the array of available atabases both time consuming and complicated for the busy clincian. Surgeons want to know how each source of data can be used ffectively to answer their clinical and research-related questions. n this series, Surgery will explore examples of the most common atabases used for surgical health services research—highlighting he strengths, limitations, and most effective uses of each. This eview is about data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant ecipients.