When conducting clinical research, data collection should be as efficient and noninvasive to the preexisting workflow of data collectors as possible. This is especially true when data are to be collected by physicians parallel to regular work assignments. Classic pen-and-paper approaches have their well-described drawbacks of potentially lost or incomplete data, extensive data processing before analysis, and overall lack of feasibility. Various groups have demonstrated that digital data collection is superior to pen-and-paper approaches in terms of reduced time for data handling, fewer flawed or lost data, and general feasibility.1,2 Although these studies relied on personal digital assistant devices that were purchased specifically for data collection, we advocate a system that relies completely on preexisting devices and circumstances. We alternatively use the survey function of the online-based document-sharing service Google Docs (Google, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.) combined with physicians' smartphones for data collection. Prerequisites are met: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development figures report nearly ubiquitous coverage with mobile 3G services for the United States and Western Europe (92.3 and 87.9 percent, respectively), and the tendency is increasing.3 In 2011, 83 percent of physicians in the United States owned a smartphone, and the willingness to use mobile technologies for work assignments is increasing rapidly among health professionals
למאמר המלא
Hundeshagen G, Weissman O, Farber N, Winkler E, Haik J. Approaches to clinical research: alternative use of the Google Docs survey function for mobile data collection using physicians' smartphones. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2013 Jan;131(1):135e-136e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0b013e318272a20a. PMID: 23271548.