Review Day for data collectors
On 6 November 2012 the Review Day for all SHM and non-SHM data collectors working throughout the Netherlands took place. Usually held at least once a year, these review days are organised for educational purposes and for reuniting with colleagues.
Frank de Wolf, SHM director, opened the day with some welcoming words. He gave an update about the latest developments in HIV and hepatitis in the Netherlands and also announced his departure from SHM. Sima Zaheri, manager QC, introduced the new SHM employees and the new data collectors working at the HIV treatment centres.
Following this, Mark van der Valk, infectiologist at the AMC, spoke about the latest developments in hepatitis C and its treatment. The developments around hepatitis medications are being closely followed by all doctors and will be ongoing over the next couple of years.
Anna Jansen, data monitor at SHM, explained how hepatitis data is being collected and gave advice and tips about what should be taken into consideration when collecting data. Colette Smit, epidemiologist at SHM, then gave her analysis of the hepatitis data collected from patients that were followed before, during and after treatment. The data collectors that specifically collect hepatitis data contributed to this presentation.
In the afternoon, Mariska Hillebregt, data manager at SHM, brought the data collectors up to speed about the most recent developments in the new data structure that has been installed in 2012. Sima Zaheri spoke about the advantages of Lab-Link and how it was progressing to date. (Lab-Link is an automated link that allows laboratory data from HIV treatment centres to be entered directly into the SHM database.) Some HIV treatment centres have participated in a pilot and from the results of this pilot a standard protocol has been written which will be used in all centres that aren’t yet connected to Lab-Link.
Shula Grivell, data monitor at SHM, returned to the content after this technical information. She presented a patient case study and used it to give advice about collecting data. Finally, Leonie de Groot, data collector at SHM, showed her project ‘Time for Quality’. She hopes that this project will bring all data monitors to the same level in terms of organisation and logistics and enable them to give input on how to improve the quality of data.
In 2013, two Review Days for data collectors are planned. During these days there will be attention to content, with many cases, and there will again be guest speakers who will give updates on developments in medical areas to the data collectors.
(Mieke van den Akker, SHM data collector wrote this article.)