Deepak,
For following 50 patients for specific features that you are defining in a study protocol, I would expect you to have many questionnaires where you don't want omissions from protocol and only need some free text entry.
Keep in mind that a fully developed EMR like VistA has an mass of predefined variables that have accepted names but many of these may not be the same variables that you are wanting to define or follow. These only have value when the surrounding services gather that data every waking hour into those variable names. To do this your lab has to input such variable through the proper interface for the service which is not like generic input into a spreadsheet field.
A large part of VistA CPRS is devoted to generating the free text of a medical encounter within a general outline and with the benefit of tools for accessing the predefined variables and some tools for pulling some "prescripted" text phrases and selected "values" into that composition...this leave aside many internal communication tools that your lab doesnt need unless your study becomes large and distributed.
If your needs are to constrain an interviewer/provider/researcher to a checklist or the use of many forms:
Look at EpiINFO - open source from the CDC which keeps a database in the same format as Access and is also windows based.
Better yet, if you also want web access for filling out forms and your patient encounters do not occur at a central location:
look at OIO which is based on ZOPE and postgres SQL (although I think you can also use MySQL)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/open-outcomes/
I fear that VistA would be more than you would bargain for in your first step from paper and a spreadsheet system. It is good to start with examining the default EMR, if any, where most of these patients will receive their care. No EMR may be acceptable for your study as long as you can get your data from tolerable questionnaires including your own staff manually extracting from sources.
Please post back what you discover and decide on.
Rusty Maynard
Deepak Sreedharan wrote:
To Whom it May Concern, My name is Deepak Sreedharan and I work for a research lab at the SUNY
Downstate College of Medicine. As part of our breast studies we
collect clinical data from patients. The data includes demographics
[age, sex, race, residence and so forth] as well as clinical data
[height, weight, history of illnesses, allergies, medications, lab
values, radiologic films, etc.]. We currently keep track of this data
using mostly paper and some excel files but we would like to start
storing this data in a database using a more friendly user interface. VistA appears useful though I need someone's opinion on if it is
suitable for a lab our size.
My resources include: 1.) One P4, 2.5Ghz PC with 1GB RAM and I could buy as a large a hard
drive as needed.
2.) We are set up on the schools network. We have little IT support
but I used to develop software so I can handle most routine technical
problems on my own.
My requirements: 1.) I need to track the patient demographics and the clinical data I
mentioned above for about 50 patients [hopefully more in the future].
2.) I'm hoping that VistA runs on MySQL [or another database] so that
I can have direct access to the tables that store this patient data. If VistA does not run on MySQL or some other database perhaps you know
of some open source EMR software that does. The reason I need access
to the underlying database is because there is some other data [data
from a medical device we are building] that I need to store on the
database.
I've used the CPRS demo found on the va's website and that seems
perfect for my needs. If I could set in my lab that up that would be
ideal.
My questions: 1.) Does VistA seem suited for our purposes given the size of my lab,
the resources I have available and the scope of our project? [I know
it is typically used by hospitals not research labs]. If not could you
suggest some other open source EMR software?
2.) Does VistA run on a database like MySQL on which I can add my own
tables and have direct access to the data?
3.) Do you know of anyone who could set this system up for me? I'm
hoping I could just send my computer to someone and they could install
all the software required to run VistA on this machine? It would be
even better if someone could walk me through the installation over the
phone or come to my lab in Brooklyn, NY? I could pay of course.
Thank you for your time and help. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Deepak Sreedharan [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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