The design, development, implementation and evaluation of IRISweb; A rugby-specific web-based injury surveillance system

Objectives: To describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive injury surveillance system.

Design: The four phases; i) A survey of 58 medical professionals working in amateur rugby. ii) The design of a web-based injury surveillance system (IRISweb). iii) Recruitment of 21 of the top 58 amateur clubs to use IRISweb. iv) An evaluation survey of the 21 participating clubs.

Setting: Irish amateur rugby clubs.

Participants: Medical professionals working in amateur rugby.

Main outcome measures: Phase one investigated the injury monitoring practices in operation prior to the IRIS project. Phase four investigated the effectiveness and usefulness of IRISweb.

Results: Twenty-one clubs were recruited, however 2 clubs failed to provide a full season of data (10% dropout rate). Eighty-two percent of the remaining 19 clubs rated IRISweb as 'good' or 'very good'. Facilitators of injury surveillance were; increased player adherence (65%) and notifications to update the system (59%), however, poor player adherence (71%) and medical staff availability (24%) were the main barriers.

Conclusions: The IRIS project is the first prospective long-term injury surveillance system in Irish amateur rugby, effectively tracking injuries to guide future evidence-based injury prevention strategies. This study highlights facilitators and barriers to injury surveillance within amateur sport.