The AKTIN emergency admission register represents a significant step forward in the dynamic landscape of medical research and care: A joint initiative of the Department of Trauma Surgery at Magdeburg University Hospital, the Institute of Medical Informatics at RWTH Aachen University Hospital, and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), this project aims to establish a comprehensive infrastructure for real-time care research in German emergency departments.  

By providing a platform for the standardized and automated transmission of emergency room data to the RKI and local health authorities, AKTIN enables the observation and analysis of emergency medical events in real time. The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated challenges in the healthcare system have highlighted the need for such an infrastructure. The ability to collect and use daily updated data from emergency departments across systems and in compliance with data protection regulations provides a unique basis for health monitoring and health research.  

The analysis of this data, in particular, enables better preparation and response to future pandemics and health-related events. The cooperation partners in the network contribute specific expertise: The UMMD is responsible for the administrative management and connection of new clinics, the IMI for the technical and data protection implementation, and the RKI for the content analysis of the data for real-time health research. This interaction guarantees a smooth process and the high quality of the data collected.   

The expansion of the AKTIN infrastructure includes several core areas: 

• The connection of new clinics 
• The further development of public health surveillance 
• The processing of COVID-19-specific research questions 

Integrating university and non-university emergency departments and continuous technical development will increase the representativeness and efficiency of the register, and the development of forecasting models based on emergency admission data will enable improved resource planning and management in acute care. 

The AKTIN emergency admission register is a prime example of successfully implementing a research infrastructure that directly transfers scientific findings into practice. The project significantly improves patient care and strengthens the German healthcare system through close cooperation between research institutions, hospitals, and health authorities. 

Over 40 emergency departments have already been connected in the first funding phase. In the second funding phase, further emergency departments in Germany will be connected. The AKTIN EZV sub-project has created a basic infrastructure, i.e., a health research infrastructure in the university medicine network AKTIN@NUM.