Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To evaluate a cost-efficient model of a clinical real-time database dedicated to a sub-specialty ophthalmology clinic. Methods: A system for establishing and maintaining a computer-based clinical database for a subspecialty ophthalmology clinic (uveitis clinic) was performed. After four months, comparisons were made between the new system and the older traditional hospital-based system (ICD-9 codes from billing department computers) for identifying patient charts in ten specific theoretical clinical research subjects. A rating (0-4) was given for speed and accuracy for each system. Results: The new model outperformed the traditional hospital based system in speed in all 10 scenarios, and by a significant margin. The new model outperformed the traditional system in accuracy in all but one of the scenarios; the exception was the research scenario: ‘patients with uveitis who underwent cataract surgery'. The annual cost of our model depends on the number of clinic sessions per week, with annual costs as low as $6240 annually for a single full-day clinic. Conclusions: Our proposed model represents a clinical database system that can provide quick and accurate data compared to currently available systems at academic hospitals, and at a reasonable cost.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: sys • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: bio