COA is an electronic data capture process that involves the use of cloud-based systems to collect patient-reported outcomes. eCOA allows participants to report clinical trial information on their own time in the comfort of their own home. This can improve clinical trial decision making and ultimately save money throughout the entire clinical trial process.
Traditional methods of reporting clinical outcome assessments lack efficiency.
Paper-based methods are inherently prone to errors and require significant investment in time and money for maintenance, both from a regulatory aspect and an organizational aspect. eCOA offers an alternative approach that is more efficient than its traditional counterpart while ensuring accurate results:
- The eCOA system generates a report automatically without the need for manual input by staff members. This saves time and eliminates discrepancies associated with data entry errors (typos).
- The digital nature of the system reduces reliance on physical forms that can be lost or damaged over time resulting in incomplete or missing information. This is particularly problematic when this information is required for regulatory inspections, audits, etc. and can be detrimental to the outcome of the study. By having this information stored on a secure cloud, sponsors can rest-assure that the data exists and they can easily retrieve this data at the click of a button.
eCOA allows for real time data consolidation and analysis based on early reporting.
This means that you can get a complete picture of your organization’s compliance with all the regulations before any fines or penalties are issued by regulators.
You’re probably already collecting the data that eCOA requires, but you may not be analyzing it in an effective way. eCOA makes it easier than ever to analyze your data because it not only consolidates everything into one place, but it also connects disparate systems together so they can interact with each other seamlessly. This can improve clinical trial decision making by improving data collection, analysis, reporting and more and ultimately save money throughout the entire clinical trial process.
Using eCOA to collect patient reported outcomes in clinical trials is more efficient than traditional methods.
The traditional method of clinical data collection and reporting is that patients must visit a researcher in person, at a scheduled time. This creates several inefficiencies:
- First, it’s inefficient when collecting data from a large number of participants because it requires multiple visits to complete the process.
- Second, scheduling visits takes extra time for both researchers and patients, who may have to travel long distances or even cross international borders.
- Third, there is less flexibility for patients with busy schedules or those living far away from researchers’ offices. This can result in incomplete or late reports due to missed appointments (and therefore missing data).
eCOA eliminates these problems by allowing patients to report clinical trial information on their own schedule via their phones or computers at any hour of day or night – even while they’re asleep if they choose!
Conclusion
eCOA is a more efficient way to collect clinical trial data, because it allows for real-time data consolidation and analysis. This means that decision makers can make better clinical trial decisions based on early reporting, which can ultimately save money throughout the entire clinical trial process.
