J Korean Soc Ther Radiol Oncol.  2003 Dec;21(4):291-298.

A Web-based 'Patterns of Care Study' System for Clinical Radiation Oncology in Korea: Development, Launching, and Characteristics

• Kim IH
• Chie EK
• Oh DH
• Suh CO
• Kim JH
• Ahn YC
• Hur WJ
• Chung WK
• Choi DH
• Lee JW

Abstract

PURPOSE: We report upon a web-based system for Patterns of Care Study (PCS) devised for Korean radiation oncology. This PCS was designed to establish standard tools for clinical quality assurance, to determine basic parameters for radiation oncology processes, to offer a solid system for cooperative clinical studies and a useful standard database for comparisons with other national databases.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The system consisted of a main server with two back-ups in other locations. The program uses a Linux operating system and a MySQL database. Cancers with high frequencies in radiotherapy departments in Korea from 1998 to 1999 were chosen to have a developmental priority.
RESULTS
The web-based clinical PCS system for radiotherapy in www.pcs.re.kr was developed in early 2003 for cancers of the breast, rectum, esophagus, larynx and lung, and for brain metastasis. The total number of PCS study items exceeded one thousand. Our PCS system features user-friendliness, double entry checking, data security, encryption, hard disc mirroring, double back-up, and statistical analysis. Alphanumeric data can be input as well as image data. In addition, programs were constructed for IRB submission, random sampling of data, and departmental structure.
CONCLUSION
For the first time in the field of PCS, we have developed a web-based system and associated working programs. With this system, we can gather sample data in a short period and thus save, cost, effort and time. Data audits should be performed to validate input data. We propose that this system should be considered as a standard method for PCS or similar types of data collection systems.

Keyword

Radiotherapy; Patterns of care study; Web; Clinical QA

MeSH Terms

Brain
Breast
Computer Security
Data Collection
Esophagus
Ethics Committees, Research
Korea*
Larynx
Lung
Neoplasm Metastasis
Radiation Oncology*
Radiotherapy
Rectum