A Software Tool for Automated Upload of Large Clinical Datasets Using REDCap and the CAPO Database

Introduction: Obtaining clinical data from healthcare sources is necessary for conducting clinical research. New technologies now allow for connecting a research database to Electronic Medical Records remotely, allowing the automatic import of clinical research data. In this paper we design and evaluate a REDCap extension to import clinical records from an external health database. Methods: Many hospital EHRs are designed to use secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) repositories for data communication. We develop a REDCap plugin to connect to an external SFTP file repository for the import of clinical record data. We use the CAPO instance of REDCap and a sample set of clinical pneumonia variables for the connection. Results: The plugin allows the input of record data in a much shorter time than traditional data entry in addition to being less error prone. However, the formatting of the data in the SFTP file repository must be exact in order for the import to be successful. This can require setup time on the part of EHR IT staff. Conclusion: Developing a direct connection from EHR to research database can be an effective way to lower the overhead for conducting clinical research. We demonstrate a means to do this using REDCap and SFTP. DOI: 10.18297/jri/vol2/iss1/7 Received Date: February 12, 2018 Accepted Date: February 27, 2018 Website: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jri Affiliations: 1University of Louisville Division of Infectious Diseases, Louisville, KY 40202 ©2018, The Author(s). *Correspondence To: William A Mattingly, PhD 501 E Broadway, Suite 120B Louisville, KY 40202 bill.mattingly@louisville.edu 31 ULJRI Vol 2, (1) 2018 ORIGINAL RESEARCH of SFTP-2-REDCap, a REDCap plugin to support the fast upload of data into a REDCap clinical research project.