ABSTRACT
The PaTH (University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Penn State College of Medicine, Temple University Hospital, and Johns Hopkins University) clinical data research network initiative is a collaborative effort among four academic health centers in the Mid-Atlantic region. PaTH will provide robust infrastructure to conduct research, explore clinical outcomes, link with biospecimens, and improve methods for sharing and analyzing data across our diverse populations. Our disease foci are idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, atrial fibrillation, and obesity. The four network sites have extensive experience in using data from electronic health records and have devised robust methods for patient outreach and recruitment. The network will adopt best practices by using the open-source data-sharing tool, Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2), at each site to enhance data sharing using centrally defined common data elements, and will use the Shared Health Research Information Network (SHRINE) for distributed queries across the network.
Subject(s)
Computer Communication Networks , Electronic Health Records/organization & administration , Information Dissemination , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/organization & administration , Patient-Centered Care , Humans , Medical Record Linkage , Mid-Atlantic RegionABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: A training workshop for cancer clinical trials was developed utilizing a computer simulation encompassing cancer biology, metabolism, adverse effects, and clinical trial design. METHOD: Fourth-year medical students in a neoplasia elective course participated. The workshop was structured to maximize group discussions and interactions. Pretests and posttests were administered in a crossover design to evaluate learning about cancer clinical trials. Results. The comparison showed that the workshop did impart knowledge about cancer clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: Student evaluations of the workshop showed slight improvements from the first year to the second year.
