NCT04881279

Maintaining Optimal Trauma Outcomes: Resilience in the Midst of a Ransomware Attack

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 846 (actual)
• Sponsor: State University of New York at Buffalo · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: —

Summary

Retrospective review of de-identified hospital emergency room and trauma registry data and operating room case logs from April 9th through June 9th, 2016, 2017 examining outcomes as affected by a ransomware attack in a level I trauma center

Detailed description

On April 9, 2017, Erie County Medical Center, Western New York's sole level I trauma center was under cyberattack. The perpetrators utilized ransomware that gained access to the hospital's web server and encrypted hospital data, forcing a system-wide downtime for nearly 2 months. Electronic medical records, imaging, and interdepartmental communication were severely affected, forcing the hospital to temporarily return to pre-EMR era operations. We examined the impact of this cyber disaster on the outcomes of trauma care. Retrospective review of de-identified hospital emergency room and trauma registry data and operating room case logs from April 9th through June 9th, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Baseline characteristics of study cohort for each period will be examined using the chi-square test for categorical variables and the Student's t-test for continuous variables that are normally distributed. This was an exempt study in our institution.

Conditions

• Trauma
• Electronic Health Record

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Event	Ransomware attack

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-04-01
• Primary completion: 2017-06-30
• Completion: 2017-06-30
• First posted: 2021-05-11
• Last updated: 2023-12-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States