Determining optimal waste volume from an intravenous catheter.

Waste is blood drawn from an intravenous (IV) catheter to remove saline or heparin before obtaining a blood sample. This study examines the minimum waste volume resulting in an undiluted sample. A repeated-measures design was used.

Procurement of shared data instruments for Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap).

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a web-based software solution and tool set that allows biomedical researchers to create secure online forms for data capture, management and analysis with minimal effort and training. The Shared Data Instrument Library (SDIL) is a relatively new component of REDCap that allows sharing of commonly used data collection instruments for immediate study use by research teams. Objectives of the SDIL project include: (1) facilitating reuse of data dictionaries and reducing duplication of effort; (2) promoting the use of validated data collection instruments, data standards and best practices; and (3) promoting research collaboration and data sharing.