Using an information warehouse to screen patients for clinical trials: a prototype

Success of a clinical trial recruitment process for drug discovery and new treatments depends on screening and identifying eligible patients in a timely manner. This can be a complex and tedious process that in many instances requires a research nurse to manually track patients that may be eligible. At the Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC) we have developed a web-based functional prototype that uses the data stored in the Information Warehouse (IW) to screen patients that meet the eligibility criteria for clinical trials. Using this prototype, a researcher can apply a set of inclusion/exclusion criteria pertinent to a research protocol and instantly find patients that may qualify for the clinical trial without revealing their identity. A researcher has access to all detailed historical clinical information such as lab results, diagnosis codes, pathology reports and clinical notes.