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. 2021 May:117:103765.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103765. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Creating and implementing a COVID-19 recruitment Data Mart

Tara T Helmer  1 , Adam A Lewis  1 , Mark McEver  1 , Francesco Delacqua  1 , Cindy L Pastern  1 , Nan Kennedy  1 , Terri L Edwards  1 , Beverly O Woodward  2 , Paul A Harris  3
Affiliations

Creating and implementing a COVID-19 recruitment Data Mart

Tara T Helmer et al. J Biomed Inform. 2021 May.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented strain on every aspect of the healthcare system, and clinical research is no exception. Researchers are working against the clock to ramp up research studies addressing every angle of COVID-19 - gaining a better understanding of person-to-person transmission, improving methods for diagnosis, and developing therapies to treat infection and vaccines to prevent it. The impact of the virus on research efforts is not limited to investigators and their teams. Potential participants also face unparalleled opportunities and requests to participate in research, which can result in a significant amount of participant fatigue. The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research recognized early in the pandemic that a solution to assist researchers in the rapid identification of potential participants was critical, and thus developed the COVID-19 Recruitment Data Mart. This solution does not rest solely on technology; the addition of experienced project managers to support researchers and facilitate collaboration was essential. Since the platform and study support tools were launched on July 20, 2020, four studies have been onboarded and a total of 1693 potential participant matches have been shared. Each of these patients had agreed in advance to direct contact for COVID-19 research and had been matched to study-specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Our innovative Data Mart system is scalable and looks promising as a generalizable solution for simultaneously recommending individuals from a pool of patients against a pool of time-sensitive trial opportunities.

Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical Research; REDCap; Research Recruitment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The system architecture highlights the interoperability across various systems and sources.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Snapshot of the Data Mart Dashboard provides key information at a glance.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Administrative support is crucial to facilitate operational workflow.
None
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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