The Smart Data Extractor, a Clinician Friendly Solution to Accelerate and Improve the Data Collection During Clinical Trials

In medical research, the traditional way to collect data, i.e. browsing patient files, has been proven to induce bias, errors, human labor and costs. We propose a semi-automated system able to extract every type of data, including notes. The Smart Data Extractor pre-populates clinic research forms by following rules. We performed a cross-testing experiment to compare semi-automated to manual data collection. 20 target items had to be collected for 79 patients. The average time to complete one form was 6'81'' for manual data collection and 3'22'' with the Smart Data Extractor. There were also more mistakes during manual data collection (163 for the whole cohort) than with the Smart Data Extractor (46 for the whole cohort). We present an easy to use, understandable and agile solution to fill out clinical research forms. It reduces human effort and provides higher quality data, avoiding data re-entry and fatigue induced errors.