Background:
Despite growing demand, many public health services struggle to establish spine outcome registries due to high costs, fragmented digital systems, strict governance and limited resources.
The Royal Adelaide Hospital Spine Patient Registry (RAHSPR) was developed to track and evaluate surgical outcomes through a collaboration between the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and Adelaide University. The registry integrates data from SA Health’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR) with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) collected via REDCap, creating a centralised database for clinical, surgical, and longitudinal data. As a cornerstone of the newly established SpineLabs program, RAHSPR supports research, quality improvement, and evaluation of spinal disorders and deformity across South Australia.
Methods:
RAHSPR was designed and implemented within a complex public health service by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, digital experts and researchers operating under strict cybersecurity, privacy, medical and procurement regulations.
Facing resourcing constraints, the team adopted an agile digital mindset – prioritising the reuse of pre-approved enterprise platforms over costly bespoke solutions.
The SA Health Data Access Platform (DAP) was leveraged to host and access EMR data, while REDCap served as the central hub linking DAP and PROMs. This architecture maximised data quality and automation while minimising redundancy and manual entry. Additionally, a custom Streamlit user portal was developed to grant clinicians and researchers direct access to registry insights.
Operating as an opt-out model, RAHSPR facilitates continuous, long-term tracking of routine clinical and patient outcomes.
Results:
RAHSPR was successfully deployed within a regulated healthcare ecosystem by unifying EMR, PROMs, surgical and clinical data into a cohesive REDCap-centred architecture. Since launch, the registry has enrolled over 400 patients, proving its viability as a scalable platform for longitudinal monitoring and evidence-based research.
Conclusion:
RAHSPR demonstrates that specialty registries can be established within highly regulated public health environments by maximising existing digital infrastructure rather than building from scratch.
By integrating EMR and PROMs into established enterprise tools, this initiative offers a cost-effective, scalable blueprint for other clinical specialties while driving quality improvement and data-informed spinal care