Who may abstract data from charts? | |||||
Only HCPin office | Only HCP +office staff | External RAallowed | Other/answer unclear | Total | |
Who may identify patients? | |||||
Only HCP in office | 1 | – | – | – | 1 (3) |
Only HCP in office or office staff | – | 5* | 2† | – | 7 (24) |
External RA allowed | – | 1 | 16 | | 17 (59) |
Other/answer unclear | – | 1‡ | 1¶ | 2§ | 4 (14) |
Total | 1 (3) | 7 (24) | 19 (66) | 2 (7) | 29 (100) |
Values in parentheses are percentages.
*For one site, the response is closer to “office staff strongly preferred” for both identifying target records and for abstracting information.
†One site indicated that external research assistant would be allowed to abstract data from charts only if that person were identified in the consent form.
‡Site would require that a request be made to the Province to release names of target individuals to the family doctor.
¶Site would require that data come from the Province, subsequent to receiving authorisation from the provincial information access body.
§One site misinterpreted the question and, instead, answered the question “Who may contact the patient to obtain consent?” This mistake is understandable, in that this site had stipulated that individual consent was required for the inclusion of individuals’ records in the study. The other site indicated that it would defer to another body authorised by the privacy commissioner as to who may screen and who may abstract data.
HCP, healthcare professional; RA, research assistant.