gms | German Medical Science

66. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V. (GMDS), 12. Jahreskongress der Technologie- und Methodenplattform für die vernetzte medizinische Forschung e. V. (TMF)

26. - 30.09.2021, online

Interoperability Improvement of Mobile Patient Survey (MoPat): A method to transfer clinical research data to REDCap

Meeting Abstract

Suche in Medline nach

  • Mustafa Kemal Yildirim - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
  • Martin Dugas - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
  • Michael Storck - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie. 66. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V. (GMDS), 12. Jahreskongress der Technologie- und Methodenplattform für die vernetzte medizinische Forschung e.V. (TMF). sine loco [digital], 26.-30.09.2021. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2021. DocAbstr. 195

doi: 10.3205/21gmds032, urn:nbn:de:0183-21gmds0325

Veröffentlicht: 24. September 2021

© 2021 Yildirim et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

Introduction: Various digital tools shape the way we conduct medical research studies and collect corresponding patient data. Access to all data plays a vital role in advancing medical knowledge and quality of healthcare. Thus, efficient approaches are needed for data exchange between the systems used, that will allow clinicians a broader access to underlying research questions. To lessen the lack of interoperability between the systems used at the University Hospital Münster, a feature to export data acquired with the electronic Patient-reported Outcome (PRO) System Mobile Patient Survey (MoPat) to REDCap [1] was implemented and subsequently evaluated with actual PRO-data in productive environment.

State of the Art: MoPat2 offers possibilities to export clinical data in compliance with various standards including ODM, HL7 v2 and FHIR [2], [3], [4], [5]. Further features, such as an ORBIS-Exporter to facilitate data transfer to the local hospital information system, are given too. These exporters are built with so-called export-templates, in which the user creates export-rules by mapping questions within MoPat to the elements of the corresponding standard-compliant template.

Although REDCap can import data as XML in ODM format, the accepted format is REDCap-specific and not properly documented. Hence, a different approach based on REDCaps existing JSON import functionality via API was developed.

Concept: REDCap offers an API to import data from other sources. It can be automatically addressed using REDCaps URL and an API-Token. The JSON-File with key-value pairs to be exported is generated by MoPat using export templates. The file will then be transferred directly using the API-Token. Exports will be initiated whenever surveys are completed. The instances of both systems will securely communicate in the clinic’s internal network.

Implementation: Existing export templates were used as a basis for new REDCap mappings and implementations. The MoPat database was altered to add configuration parameters needed for communication (e.g., API-Token and URL, export path, etc.). To upload, fill and export templates with patient data, a REDCap-Exporter was implemented using the JSON file as template. Export rules were defined to transform each data type to fit the needed format. A method to flush the object as JSON to the specified HTTP-URL was implemented. Settings when or whether to export to a directory or to REDCaps API were made configurable through parameters on the administration site of MoPat.

Lessons Learned: The main lesson drawn from implementing an export between MoPat and REDCap was that REDCap is not fully compliant to the ODM standard, although a strict adherence would have made the transfer much easier. This issue was key to our decision to implement a direct-transfer mechanism. Further, there was no API call to find the next free RepeatKey (“redcap_repeat_instance”), so the whole dataset had to be downloaded and counted, which led to race conditions and unsafe imports. A current version released the keyword „new“ as instance repeat key, which will be tested. Furthermore, the import function of REDCap imports sent instrument data as first instrument (RepeatKey 1) and not additionally after the last existing, which potentially overwrites data.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.


References

1.
REDCap [Internet]. 2021 [cited 6 August 2021]. Available from: https://www.project-redcap.org/ Externer Link
2.
ODM-XML CDISC [Internet]. 2021 [cited 6 August 2021]. Available from: https://www.cdisc.org/standards/data-exchange/odm Externer Link
3.
HL7. Index - FHIR v4.0.1 [Internet]. 2021 [cited 6 August 2021]. Available from: https://hl7.org/FHIR/ Externer Link
4.
Soto-Rey I, Dugas M, Storck M. Implementation of an ODM and HL7 Compliant Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome System. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2016;228:421–5.
5.
Storck M, Hollenberg L, Dugas M, Soto-Rey I. Interoperability Improvement of Mobile Patient Survey (MoPat) Implementing Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR). Stud Health Technol Inform. 2019;258:141–5.