November 2007

Computers turning DCs into researchers

The advent of the computer was without doubt one of the biggest boosts to biomedical research, allowing scientists to collect and analyze data, conduct literature searches, and provide statistical reviews at a speed and accuracy never before imagined.

Technological progress has accelerated so quickly that, by 21st‑century standards, the earliest computers seem archaic.

During the 1960s and '70s, Joshua Lederberg introduced computer science and artificial intelligence to the biomedical laboratory and helped establish the central role that computers now play in medical research, clinical practice, and biomedical communication. But looking at a photo of him seated in front of a mainframe computer that takes up an entire wall and typing on a bulky data processing type machine, it's easy to see how far computer technology has advanced.

Today, the computing power of Lederberg's massive mainframe can be contained in a laptop and the computers present in every chiropractic office are capable of more functions than early researchers even considered. In fact, the computers used by health care practitioners are transforming private practices into research centers.

"If physicians are not actively involved in data collection and measurement to improve the quality and value of their own work, who will be?" That was one of the questions asked by researchers of the study, "Building Measurement and Data Collection into Medical Practice," published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Medical doctors have already shown their willingness to use office computers to contribute to research projects. "If provided with training and support, most practices indicated they were willing to consider an array of electronic data collection options for practice‑based research activities," concluded researchers in a report published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Not only are MDs willing to conduct practice‑based research, many see it as the only way to improve the lamentable state of medicine in the US.

"Countries rich enough to afford medical research have devoted much of their resources to establishing the laboratories, scientists, and methods necessary to advance genetic and molecular knowledge ‑‑ as if this would prove sufficient to relieve most human suffering and provide an adequate scientific basis for practice and policy making," stated a 2001 article in the British Medical Journal. Yet, the authors noted that despite huge expenditures in medical research, "the recent ranking by the World Health Organization of the US health system at 72nd in the world in terms of disability adjusted life expectancy shows that there are other factors at play that determine the performance of a healthcare system and the health of a nation."

The article went on to explore the impact and potential of "practice based research networks" and concluded: "It is time to move into full implementation and secure these networks as a place of learning, where doctors and patients in the community are united with science to search for answers that can provide a better basis for daily practice. When this happens in countries around the world, the world will be a better place for all who become patients."

The time has come, too, for the chiropractic profession to derive the full benefit of practice‑based research networks capable of using current office technology to compile objective data on a wide variety of people.

Thankfully, the Quixote company has designed a computer program that makes contributing to a practice‑based research project not only possible, but easy for chiropractic offices.

The software, which has already proven capable of handling all chiropractic office functions from setting appointments to recording SOAP notes, now incorporates the ability for DCs to effortlessly upload objective findings to the Quixote research and clinical science project. The data will be correlated with subjective patient data supplied through an online Self‑Reported Quality of Life study and analyzed by an international scientific panel.

Doctors recruit volunteers from their communities using methods identical to those employed by medical research programs such as the Mayo Clinic, the Naval Medical Research Center, and Yale University School of Medicine. Doctors also invite current patients to participate in the research project.

Using the same Quixote office software they use for all other patients, doctors input their findings and care notes, then upload pertinent findings via the Internet to the Quixote research database. No personal information is sent and all procedures comply with HIPAA patient privacy regulations.

Participating in the Quixote research and clinical science project fulfills the goal of creating a true practice‑based research network in chiropractic and, as the BMJ article says, making sure "the world will be a better place for all who become patients."

To learn more about the Quixote software or research project, call 866‑778‑4377 or visit www.QuixoteSoftware.NET