Duke came to Barbour Consulting looking for a solution that would improve the data quality and timeliness of their studies. The solution had to inexpensive and easy to implement. Their existing process was paper-based, lacked digital documentation of original forms, required redundant data entry by non-clinical staff, and usually resulted in costly, time consuming studies.
Duke purchased our Digital Forms for Healthcare (DFH) solution and selected the Digital Pen as the data collection method for a pilot retrospective chart review. This digital pen option was selected for its low hardware cost, convenience, and minimal training requirements. Clinical staff, not IT, was able to design forms including validation rules that greatly improve accuracy and completeness of collected data on the front end. Previously, errors or omissions were not caught until data was analyzed when they were difficult to correct.
Form data was directly written to the destination database, replacing redundant, error prone manual data entry processes. PDF versions of forms were automatically stored in document repositories. Previously, paper forms would have to be filed and stored and were not readily available.
Duke plans to use DFH as its primary data collection tool on future studies. One key benefit of DFS for Duke is that forms can be designed (including validation rules) by clinical staff resulting in extremely high level of accuracy, fast startup and completion of studies, and greatly reduced IT costs.
Duke plans to use the DFH Server to manage multiple studies. Benefits include multiple form version control and study specific workflow (routing/review/approval queues). Also planned is the of Bluetooth Digital Pens for field/home based data collection to capture collected data from remote locations and non-technical users with pen/paper and supported mobile phone.