Development of an electronic research permissions management system to enhance informed consents and capture research authorizations data.

Informed consents are a critical and essential component of the clinical research process. Currently, most consents and research privacy authorizations are being captured on paper. In this paper we describe a novel method of capturing this information electronically.

Managing clinical research permissions electronically: A novel approach to enhancing recruitment and managing consents.

Background: One mechanism to increase participation in research is to solicit potential research participants' general willingness to be recruited into clinical trials. Such research permissions and consents typically are collected on paper upon patient registration. We describe a novel method of capturing this information electronically.

An investigation of the efficacy of electronic consenting interfaces of research permissions management system in a hospital setting.

Purpose: Ethical and legal requirements for healthcare providers in the United States, stipulate that patients sign a consent form prior to undergoing medical treatment or participating in a research study. Currently, the majority of the hospitals obtain these consents using paper-based forms, which makes patient preference data cumbersome to store, search and retrieve. To address these issues, Health Sciences of South Carolina (HSSC), a collaborative of academic medical institutions and research universities in South Carolina, is developing an electronic consenting system, the Research Permissions Management System (RPMS).

Challenges that limit meaningful use of health information technology.

Purpose: Health information technology (HIT) is perceived as an essential component for addressing inefficiencies in healthcare. Without understanding the challenges that limit meaningful use of HIT, there is a high chance that institutions will convert complex paper-based systems to expensive digital chaos.

Recent Findings: Clinical information systems do not communicate with each other automatically because integration of existing data standards is lacking.