Design and Virtual Workflow of a Patient Database for Clinical and Pharmaceutical Trials Part II: A Prototype for Endocrinology

Konstantinos Vezertzis; George I Lambrou; Dimitrios Koutsouris

doi:10.7759/cureus.30006

Design and Virtual Workflow of a Patient Database for Clinical and Pharmaceutical Trials Part II: A Prototype for Endocrinology

Cureus. 2022 Oct 6;14(10):e30006. doi: 10.7759/cureus.30006. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Authors

Konstantinos Vezertzis¹, George I Lambrou^{2

3

4}, Dimitrios Koutsouris¹

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
² Laboratory for the Research of Musculoskeletal Disorders, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
³ First Department of Pediatrics, Choremeio Research Laboratory, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
⁴ University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.

Abstract

Background In previous work, we have reported that patient recruitment is closely related to electronic health records (EHR). As a result, the next step of investigation would lead to the implementation of research practices for using EHR in selecting patients for clinical trials. Towards that end, open-source software offers several integrated solutions that can meet the needs of an EHR and patient recruitment. Aim In the present work, we have designed a prototype of a patient recruitment system using open-source tools. The proposed prototype can draw data from a patient management system and present selected patients based on specific criteria. Methods For the objective of the present study, we have used the methodology described previously. In particular, we recorded numerous integrated solutions for EHR from the area of free and open-source software. Open Electronic Medical Records (OpenEMR) ranked first for functionality and second for usability efficiency. Hence, we relied on OpenEMR to design a prototype patient recruitment system. After the installation and commissioning of OpenEMR, we created appropriate test scenarios. Therefore, populated appropriate patient data in OpenEMR. PhpMyAdmin was installed and commissioned along with the OpenEMR installation. This tool is used to manage MySQL database systems. MySQL is the database system that programmers rely on to develop OpenEMR. Results A prototype patient recruitment system was designed, which draws data from a view of the OpenEMR database to present results based on criteria. Conclusions After the adaptation of the database and the design of the proposed solution, we concluded, based on the prototype results, that there is potential for developing an integrated patient recruitment management system. This management system can be based on the implementation of complex criteria and present results according to the needs of the end-user.

Keywords: electronic health record (ehr); open-source software; patient recruitment; prototype design; virtual workflow.