Welcome to PoCDART, a free, open-source solution for point-of-care data capture and reporting!
Modern health IT systems are frequently composed of a collection of heavily interdependent, monolithic platforms, slowing down operations and compromising data quality. In order to address these challenges facing healthcare today, PoCDART (Point-of-Care Dashboards, Analytics & Reporting Toolkit) facilitates the development of technical solutions aimed at supporting implementation of novel interventions and data workflows at the point-of-care using open-source software. PoCDART is specifically designed to support implementation methodologies that employ rapid iteration cycles (e.g. Learning Evaluation, PDSA), continuous improvement, and co-design by stakeholders. PoCDART is designed to allow light-weight, loosely coupled solutions that are flexible, and highly adaptable to support a wide spectrum of data-driven initiatives.
The PoCDART platform leverages python, Node.js, and R in the data processing layer to facilitate the consumption of data from a broad list of independent sources. Python is an object-oriented programming language that uses dynamic typing and dynamic binding and supports rapid application development. Python is attractive for its ease of access, well-maintained suite of contributed packages, and interoperability amongst tools and technology layers. R is highly-extensible and a popular tool among researchers, data miners, and statisticians in developing statistical software, data visualizations, and data analysis. MySQL is a popular open-source relational database management system and serves as the primary data storage mechanism for PoCDART and its core applications. This design choice in data storage is a stable and reliable multi-threaded SQL database server. HL7-FHIR is a standard for healthcare data exchange and will be included in the next phase of the PoCDART platform to interface with patient portal and EMR services.
PoCDART is data source agnostic. It is compatible with a variety of applications and platforms, including business applications, customer relationship management systems (CRMS), and EMRs. The data processing layer enables robust integration with both legacy and modern environments. Modern applications that offer API services and standardized data exchange protocols (HL7) are integrated using extract, transform, and load (ETL) scripts written in Python and R. Legacy platforms, for which mature API interfaces are less commonly available, are queried using database-oriented protocols (SQL Server), turning these often difficult-to-access repositories into fully-integrated data sources.
The PoCDART core applications are predicated upon the usage and integration of REDCap and RStudio Shiny. REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a browser-based, secure data collection tool that was designed to build translational research databases. Shiny enables users to consume data through sophisticated and powerful data dashboards for web applications using R. These applications are then served to users through the Drupal content platform. This allows PoCDART to have a consistent, scalable, and maintainable web framework.
In order to ensure platform sustainability, scalability, and reliability, PoCDART utilizes DevOps principles and a supported suite of tools. Docker and Jenkins support continuous integration and improvement of the platform, while also hardening the core technology stack. Nagios, a tool focused on mitigating risks associated with data quality issues, bugs, and functionality defects, helps provide robust monitoring and error reporting for the PoCDART platform.
PoCDART's aims to support and provide solutions to the organizations' complex data-driven initiatives and requirements. The PoCDART platform as a whole easily integrates with other applications and platforms. The PoCDART platform leverages APIs and FHIR integrations in order to deliver proper reporting initiatives that may be required in patient portal applications or EMRs. It facilitates coordination between users and patients by automating communication via email and text message, or just simply serving up a secure web page for data or information consumption. PoCDART is a highly flexible platform able to handle a wide-ranging set of data-driven use cases.