REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure HIPAA compliant web-based data collection application hosted by Research & Academic Computing (ARC), a department of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) which is itself part of Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH). The function of the REDCap Core is to provide REDCap-related services and support to all BILH users for:
- Research, Admin, and Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance (QI/QA) REDCap projects
- REDCap-based eConsent
- 21 Part 11 Compliant Research REDCap projects
Vanderbilt University, in collaboration with a consortium of academic and non-profit institutional partners, has developed this software toolset and workflow methodology for electronic data collection and management. The heart of REDCap is the project, an independent repository of forms and tools that can be configured and built by a study team for a specific investigation. The application supports an iterative development and testing process that results in a well-planned data collection strategy that may be focused on research, quality improvement or hospital operations.
Using REDCap, the investigation team can design web-based surveys and engage potential respondents using a variety of notification methods. REDCap provides flexible features that can be used for a variety of projects and provides an intuitive interface to enter data with real time validation. The system offers easy data manipulation with audit trails, reports for monitoring and querying participant records, and data exports to common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R).
Support from Harvard Catalyst
The efforts of the REDCap core have been supported by the Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, which has promoted REDCap among Harvard affiliate institutions, and promoted collaboration and education among users and system administrators.
Material adapted from MGB RISC Research Applications REDCap team on REDCap and citing REDCap with appreciation.