National CTSA Consortium
Accelerating Discoveries Toward Better Health
Visit CTSACentral.org for information about the national CTSA program.
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences funds the CTSA program.
eRecord-Research Project Update #2: Zeroing In on the Issues
Recommendations. eRecord-Research Project teams are crafting recommendations for tools, policies and procedures to support research. Two broad categories of recommendations are emerging. The first category is all about ensuring that clinical health information, stored in eRecord and other clinical information systems is accessible to researchers. The second category targets ways to make sure that clinical systems, especially eRecord, support research volunteer recruitment while protecting privacy. The teams are working together to build a comprehensive issue tracking spreadsheet to capture discussions and recommendations.
Seminars. The Project sponsored a three-part mini-seminar series in August to present critical information that will support decision-making for all three teams. Seminar topics and links to video-recordings are listed below.
Date: August 4, 2011
Topic: The i2b2 Research Data Warehousing Project: The Secondary Use of the EHR in Support of Clinical and Translational Research at URMC
Speaker: Marco J. Casale, MS
Date: August 11, 2011
Topic: Demonstration of the i2b2 Workbench: Clinical Data Query and Extraction for Research
Speakers: Philip Ng and Tim Thimman
Date: August 18, 2011
Topic: The Retrieval and Viewing of Clinical Information in the Medical Chart for Research Purposes
Speaker: Adam Tatro, RN, BSN, BS
Project Teams. The project team structure has evolved a bit from its initial design. Working Groups B and C found that their topic areas and membership overlap in a substantial way, and so have begun to coordinate their discussions very closely. This may lead to a merger of the teams. In addition, Dr. Michael Keefer from the Department of Medicine, Division of 
Infectious Disease, volunteered to organize a Faculty Advisory Group to ensure that a diverse group of faculty members have a chance to make their needs known. Please contact him about joining.
Executive Committee. The eRecord-Research Executive Committee met for the first time on August 16th. Key outcomes are these:
- The Committee endorsed the project’s efforts to date.
- They asked the team to be sure that resources are in place to prepare data necessary for grant application opportunities that may arise in the very near future. For example, the new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is expected to begin soliciting research proposals in the Fall.
- They asked the team to plan for an ongoing mechanism to monitor and respond to the researchers’ needs for access to clinical information and tools to engage research volunteers.
Still curious? Visit the eRecord-Research SharePoint site for a wealth of information.
For more information:
* Download the presentation to the eRecord-Research Executive Committee
* Sign up for the eRecord-Research e-mail listserv.
* Join the eRecord-Research SharePoint site.
To join the eRecord-Research Project contact Mary Little at Mary_Little@urmc.rochester.edu or at 275-0653
NIH Funding Acknowledgement ** Important ** All publications resulting from the utilization of CTSI resources are required to credit the CTSI grant by including the NIH FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.
