Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108622

Howard Andrews, PhD¹, Bhavesh Shah², Mary Garcia³, Chandresh Shah³, and Gerald Segal³. (1) Center for Child Environmental Health, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, Box 47, New York, NY 10032, 212-543-5585, hfa1@columbia.edu, (2) SBS Inc, 219 Meetinghouse Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460-5617, (3) Technology Information Systems, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032

Scientific Web-based Information Management software (SWIM) provides a powerful, user friendly, low cost on-line data collection and data management system for the research community. In SWIM, the non-technical scientist or project coordinator can deploy an entire on-line data management system with features that are usually achieved only by expert web programmers. With SWIM, the user is empowered to: 1) establish an on-line data management project, 2) populate the project with one or multiple data collection forms, 3) choose from a wide selection of data types for each question, 4) define sites where data entry will take place, 5) assign a role (e.g. data entry clerk, statistician), id and password to one or more user at each site; 6) generate on-line reports summarizing data accrual and completeness; 7)download data in the form of analysis-ready SAS or SPSS files, with complete variable labeling, value labeling and user-defined missing value assignments. SWIM is compliant with all FDA and HIPAA regulations. SWIM has been successfully deployed to manage the collection of data in multi-site clinical trials and epidemiological studies. No hardware or software is required at the remote computer--only a broad-band internet connection. Researchers and statisticians can securely access project data from home or while on the road. Entered data may be readily re-accessed and edited or 'locked' to prevent editing by the project administrator. SWIM should substantially reduce total data entry and management costs in any project, while improving data accuracy and accessibility.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the distinction between web-based, server-based and desktop-based information management.
• Understand the distinction between software-based information management and customized information management.
• Learn how to quickly build an on-line data management system for a multi-site clinical trial or epidemiological study.
• Learn how to quickly generate online reports and download data as SAS or SPSS system files for statistical analysis.
• Understand the cost-savings that can be achieved with an efficient and user-friendly on-line data management system.
• Understand threats to data security in an on-line environment and how a secure on-line data system can be achieved.

Keywords: Data Collection, Biostatistics

Related Web page: sbs-it.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF Information Systems Consortium, LTD. I am president of this corporation, which provides information-related consultation and services.