Taha A. Kass-Hout, MD, MS

CAPAStatistic.com

Houston, TX

a Pendragon Solution Provider

Data collectors used laptops to enter data when screening all hospitals in the community for possible stroke cases.  Later,  the screener would telephone the on-call physicians to verify whether the medical record screened was a possible stroke case or not.  Approximately 15,000 patients were screened in year 2000 which meant 15,000 phone calls to physicians to complete the verification process

Forms Development Time:

45 minutes

Installation:

After constructing a very sophisticated statistical algorithm based on a multivariable logistic model from previously collected data, handhelds were utilized to adopt this statistical algorithm to aid physicians tedious and time consuming verification during the decision making process.  Pendragon Forms were a great help in implementing the system and calculating the statistical-based scoring system.  This scoring system used a well calibrated and validated cut off, and if the score was above the certain cut-off then the system notified the user that the medical record of concern could be a possible stroke case.  Upon the completion of the record, a copy was wirelessly sent to the on-call physician and immediate intervention was taken to further validate the computer decision.  The computer based algorithm correctly classified a stroke case or a non-stroke case in 96% of the cases.

The Pendragon Forms solution was implemented in emergency rooms, hospitals floors, nursing homes, elderly care units, and radiology offices.  Each record was wirelessly sent to a central cgi-bin via the wireless modem using  the Pendragon Forms wireless option.

Benefits:

The goal of the statistical algorithm was to ascertain the incidence of stroke from routine hospital admission records for epidemiologic investigation.  This goal was facilitated by utilizing the Pendragon Forms for handheld computers. Other benefits included:

• Lower cost of data collection.

• Real-time data capture resulted in better and more accurate decision making.

• Handhelds are very portable and the cost is much lower field than laptops or PCs.

• Handhelds are much more convenient to use in the field than laptops or PCs.

• Paperless Case Record Forms (CRFs).

• The wireless option allowed faster and much more accurate screening for stroke cases in the community.

• Physicians were notified immediately when a case is identified.

• More effective physician intervention.