Are you planning a migration of your clinical study? There is no question that this is a massive undertaking and it is not your first choice. But if you have looked at all of the other factors and conclude that this is the only way to move forward, then there are a few things you should consider so that the migration of your clinical trial goes on without a hitch. Take a look at the following best practices:
It’s time to improve the design of the study database.
After you have made the decision to migrate data, this is a great time to make some changes to the study. For example, you can look at different ways to capture the fields such as by BMI, sorting, or scoring. This can reduce the burden on clinical trial sites as well.
You should fully analyze your rationale for moving the study and take a close look at the location.
Taking a good hard look at why you had to move the study and your new location for the clinical trial go hand-in-hand. First of all, thinking about why you should move the study is beneficial because it will help you make sure that you and your team do not make the same mistake twice. if you think long and hard about the new location, it will help you to be that much more prepared as well. Finally, your rationale for moving the clinical study needs to go far beyond the old well-worn excuse that “our supervisor told us to do it.” That’s way too simple.
Make sure your new database or platform is as consistent as possible.
After your new platform or database is in place, the work is just beginning. You will have to focus on the fields that need updating as consistently as possible. You will want to keep them consistent simply due to the fact that otherwise, a data migration would be more complex than it should be. Of course, even in the midst of all of this, you should still keep all of the clinical trial sites in mind. Do not change too much of the CRF structure when it comes to the order that which the fields have been collected. This is because many sites are accustomed to completing forms a certain way.
You must map the old fields to the new ones.
Finally, when it comes to clinical trial data management, you’ve got to make sure that the old fields are matched to the new ones. According to Egnyte, “Clinical data management (CDM) is the handling of information that results from clinical trials. All aspects of processing study information are part of clinical data management.” In summary, this means that you should ensure that you keep aware of the structure, name, or location on the forms, and the only way you can do this well is through careful mapping. Of course, a lot of people go the automation route, and that’s all well and good, but be careful not to go with the first program. This is definitely one of those cases where it pays to be picky.
In summary, trial migration can be difficult, but it can be accomplished with some precise planning.