Multilanguage health record database focused on the active follow-up of patients and adaptable for patient-reported outcomes and clinical research design

Introduction A dataset with patient information allows a comparison between different clinical treatments in many fields of medicine as well as the effective use of medical resources. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) collect data directly from patients for use in clinical practice by helping decision making and tailoring treatments according to the patients’ needs. The authors present a novel database to overcome data collection related barriers, calculating automatically the questionnaire results, displayed in graphics on the patients’ dashboard in real time, and focused on the active follow of the patients. Objective To present electronic health record database for monitoring clinical or surgical interventions and assess the usability. Methodology Process modeling and specification of system requirements were performed using the Iconix methodology along with the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) to validate the usability and usefulness of the proposed system. The system and the questionnaires were performed in three languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and English. Results The database enables researchers to use the questionnaires defining the time of data collection according to the needs of each clinical study. The system facilitates the patient answers without any personal interference from smartphones, tablets or computers. The questionnaire scores were calculated automatically in real time and displayed in graphics on the patients’ dashboard. The evaluation of the usability and usefulness of the developed database used 8 people divided into two equal groups (4 physicians and 4 medical students). Conclusion The proposed electronic health record database allows a friendly and flexible use of PROMs according to the population, needs in practice and clinical settings. The platform promotes active and direct data collection from patients and physicians in English, Portuguese and Spanish.