Company Overview

The Tel Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey (TAMCIS) is held at the Center for Specialized Medical Examinations, a unit within Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. The center provides routine annual general health check-ups and comprehensive medical assessment for individuals as a preventive measure, as well as to identify specific ailments.

Researchers at the hospital have been performing research at the center as part of the TAMCIS since 2003, collecting more than 5,000 data-points on each of more than 20,000 subjects. It is designed to evaluate the association
between physiological and psychological measures and their additive effect on cardiovascular risk. In addition to patient-derived information, other data sources include lab tests (blood CRP, troponin, albumin, and many others) and medical exams (ergometry, eye exams, ECG and more).

Challenges

In 2003 the center implemented a customized software solution designed for researchers, which was used over a period of 5 years. The software became cumbersome and expensive to use and service was limited. They then switched to using Excel and Access to manage their database, but as the amount of data grew, its shortfalls became more pronounced:

• Multiple databases were used to collect information, causing discrepancies in data, and duplicated information.
• A significant amount of time was dedicated to copying data from other systems and pasting into the database as there was no integration between systems.
• Dependency on IT personnel resulted in significant delays in drawing clinical data from the EHR.
• Manual data entry was unreliable and error-prone and was influenced by the work habits of each person entering the data.
• Calculations were performed manually in Excel.
• Modifying and updating questionnaires was inflexible.
• The Excel and Access files were so large and complex, they became impossible to manage and took several minutes to load.

Solution

The researched team created an application using Data+’s Clinical Data Management App. It enabled users to import all the existing data stored in Excel files, while automatically identifying inaccuracies, incompatibilities and missing data. It further addressed the following challenges:

• Single, secure database containing reliable data, which could be used for sophisticated research and analysis.
• Seamlessly and ad-hoc pull data from the EHR system through a direct interface.
• Custom-designed calculated fields the automatically calculates scores.
• Automated patient engagement tools. Independently-built questionnaires and patient feedback reports.
• Keyboard-based UI, designed for typists needs.
• Produce highly granulated and precise reports used for analysis that resulted in over 15 research article publications.
  

Dr. Shani Shenhar-Tsarfaty is the Study Manager of the TAMCIS. She works closely with the platform, and has study coordinators and typists that aid her in her work. She states, “The team at Data+ truly has a “can-do” attitude. They’ve worked closely with us from the start, learning from our experience and needs and designing relevant, tailored solutions. The ability to pull up-to-date, reliable data any time from other systems like the EHR has brought us tremendous value. The mechanism that assures data integrity has proven very valuable as well.”

Prof. Sharon Toker is a Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University. Her work involves designing questionnaires that investigate occupational burnout in the study’s participants, and its effect on their health. She adds, “Data+ created a unified database. The interfaces alone save us more than 75% of the time we used to spend on copying and pasting clinical information. Using Data+ means we have complete control over the system and do not depend on others to provide us with clinical care information, to make changes to forms and questionnaires, create and reposition fields, establish new research, etc. With Data+ we work more efficiently.”

TAMCIS users say –

• The system is very intuitive and offers all the functionalities you need.
• When I explained it to people, it didn’t take more than once.
• The system minimizes errors and prevents inconsistency. With hard copies, sometimes people would skip certain fields, whether intentionally or not. With Data+, that doesn’t happen. Also, you can always go back and correct any mistakes you made.
• The platform has a custom feature that enables us to create our own templates independently, at any given time, which is a big advantage.
• One of Data+ biggest advantages is flexibility and simplicity. It doesn’t have hard-set limitations. I can perform any action without too much effort.

About Data+

Data+ is a smart end-to-end solution that allows researchers to effectively record, manage and analyze clinical research data. A fully customizable platform which can be integrated with the organization’s systems and data, Data+ streamlines the research process and generates more value with the existing resources.
To get a demo of Data+, visit https://dataplus-research.com/contact/