Coptic Hope Center
Ngong Road
P.O.Box 21570 Nairobi,Kenya
Phone: 254-272-5856
mattwa@copticmission.org
Data Office!
Questionnaire Database
The Questionnaires used at the Hope Center are filled on paper forms, and then scanned using Teleform into an SPSS database. The forms should be filled in capital letters where necessary. This database is eventually converted into an Access database for storage. The questionnaires include: Questionnaires – this Access database includes all questionnaires that are filled at the clinic. In total there are 37 questionnaires:
• Address and Intake • Phone & address update form
• Adult Medical Screening • Counselor Screening • Adult Nursing Screening • Adult Medical Follow-Up
• Counseling Adherence #1 • Counseling Adherence #2 • Counseling Adherence #3
• HAART Protocol Checklist • Referrals Forms • ARV Initial & Lab Follow-up • Counselor Follow-up
• Pregnancy monitoring • Nutrition Follow-up • Nutrition Screening
• Social Work Screening • Mortality / verbal autopsy • Child Medical Screening
• Child Nursing Screening • Child Medical Follow-up • Loss to Follow-up
• HAART Protocol Form • Inpatient Admission
• Home Assessment • VCT
• Laboratory • Counseling general session • Phone contact form • Pediatric locator
• Adult locator • Pediatric tracing fu
• Adult tracing fu • Pediatric tracing screening • Adult tracing fu
Training on how to fill the questionnaires is done on all the new hires before they can attend to the clients. This helps to eliminate errors while filling the form and to ensure consistency on the data collected. A unique number “interviewer number” is assigned to the new hire after the training. The training is conducted by either the Data manager or the senior data clerks.
Serialization
After every session with the client, a serialization sheet is filled by the interviewers indicating the session that has taken place, the date and the interviewer’s number. On scanning the form, the data clerk will then sign on the same sheet the date the form was scanned. The sheet helps in identifying the sessions the client has ever gone through and whether the respective forms have been scanned or not at a glance. The serialization sheet is printed on the inside part of the client’s file cover.
Facilities
The Data Management team has got three offices, the Ngong road office, Industrial area office and the maseno office. The office has nine desktop computers, one flash disk, and four high-speed scanners. Questionnaires are entered into the computer using Cardiff Teleform software. All computers have SPSS, DBMS Copy and Microsoft XP Office installed among other programs. The data is shared between the data office computers through the SVN software. Entry Most data is collected on study subjects using questionnaires. These Questionnaires are stored in patient files where they are kept safely. After a patient has seen a staff of Coptic for consultation then her/his file is then brought to the data office the following day for scanning; after which they are returned to the cabinet for safe keeping and future use. The forms are checked for any obvious errors before scanning takes place. This helps to reduce the number of errors encountered during and after scanning. TeleForm Scanning Data Entry at the centre is done using data entry software, called Teleform. Questionnaires are designed using the Teleform designer (the questionnaire designing side of the Teleform). Once information has been entered onto the questionnaires, the questionnaires are scanned using the Teleform Reader (the questionnaire reading software). Only questionnaires designed using this software can be recognized by the software. Data cleaning
1. Once the information is scanned using the Teleform Reader it is then verified to check if the computer is in agreement with the scanned data using the Teleform Verifier. The advantage of this first verification is that quick data checking is done and obvious errors are easily detected. 2. After the verification the data is then exported to SPSS. Once in SPSS format this data is cleaned by cross-checking of the information against the questionnaire on the same day to avoid backlogging and in-efficiencies. 3. The third verification involves inconsistence checks, whereby a simple syntax is developed to check on the inconsistencies available in the data. This is important for making sure that information is not lost in the process, or wrong information is not taken which will not be in agreement with the rest of the information.
Quality
1. The data clerk maintains a data logbook where all the data entry queries or errors encountered during data entry are recorded. Data entry queries or errors are then discussed with the respective interviewers every morning. The interviewers should confirm with the data office every morning whether they have any pending errors. Discussions are held with both interviewer and data clerk or senior data clerk together in front of the computer with corrections to the database being done simultaneously. The data manager ensures that all errors are attended to on a regular basis.
2. The data manager with the help of the senior data clerks ensures that all the data is clean at all times. Questionnaire data is checked for entry accuracy at the time of scanning. In addition, data checking is done on the databases every two weeks and the data manager takes responsibility for organizing the data checking process. If errors are found, the charts are brought from clinic and checked for inconsistencies. A summary report on the data quality and data entry accuracy is then produced by the data manager and distributed to the project investigators.
3. Data checking is done using the following methods:
Ranges and Validity rules
A range of acceptable values has been set for all the appropriate variables. Any values that fall outside this range cannot be accepted by the database. Validity rules are also set where certain variables can only be entered if they comply with a particular rule. For example, the database does not allow outside limit or blank entries for the patient identification numbers and all unreal dates are rejected. The data manager works with the data entry clerks to identify any inconsistent data on a weekly basis. Inconsistency checks are done when the files are in SPSS. The manager then consults with the interviewers to resolve the inconsistencies.
Line listings
The main objectives of line listings include:
1. identifying any errors made during data entry
2. estimating the accuracy rate of the data entry clerk, monitor and asses his/her data entry performance
The data manager produces line listings of all the enrollment and follow-up files on a monthly basis. The data team members then check the line listings against the hard copy questionnaires. Errors are highlighted on the line listings and the error rate approximated thereafter. After the checking has been completed, the data manager lists all the corrections that need to be done in the patient charts on the data entry sheet, this helps the data entry clerk easily identify the corrections that need to be done. Line-listing is done mainly on serology data entry which is done by hand and not through computer scanning.
Missing values
The data entry clerk identifies any missing values during data entry or after running the error syntax. Where values are missing, the data entry clerk notes this down on the data entry sheet of the respective chart and in the data logbook. Every morning, the interviewers review(s) errors that are determined in this manner.
Safety
The database is backed up every Friday by saving the most current files on two CD disks. But on a day to day basis the data is backed up in the server.
The data is also backed up on a monthly basis in the university of Washington website without the clients name in the address and intake and lab results form.
Security
• All databases are password-protected, preventing access by any unauthorized persons.
• Data is backed up on a weekly basis by the both the data clerks and the data manager. Data is saved on two CD disks. One set remains with the data manager and the other is kept by the program manager at an off-site location.
Storage
All forms are all filed in the client’s file and the file kept in the clinic’s medical record department for reference by clinicians. All patient records are filed chronologically using the patients' identification numbers.
The Questionnaires used at the Hope Center are filled on paper forms, and then scanned using Teleform into an SPSS database. The forms should be filled in capital letters where necessary. This database is eventually converted into an Access database for storage. The questionnaires include: Questionnaires – this Access database includes all questionnaires that are filled at the clinic. In total there are 37 questionnaires:
• Address and Intake • Phone & address update form
• Adult Medical Screening • Counselor Screening • Adult Nursing Screening • Adult Medical Follow-Up
• Counseling Adherence #1 • Counseling Adherence #2 • Counseling Adherence #3
• HAART Protocol Checklist • Referrals Forms • ARV Initial & Lab Follow-up • Counselor Follow-up
• Pregnancy monitoring • Nutrition Follow-up • Nutrition Screening
• Social Work Screening • Mortality / verbal autopsy • Child Medical Screening
• Child Nursing Screening • Child Medical Follow-up • Loss to Follow-up
• HAART Protocol Form • Inpatient Admission
• Home Assessment • VCT
• Laboratory • Counseling general session • Phone contact form • Pediatric locator
• Adult locator • Pediatric tracing fu
• Adult tracing fu • Pediatric tracing screening • Adult tracing fu
Training on how to fill the questionnaires is done on all the new hires before they can attend to the clients. This helps to eliminate errors while filling the form and to ensure consistency on the data collected. A unique number “interviewer number” is assigned to the new hire after the training. The training is conducted by either the Data manager or the senior data clerks.
Serialization
After every session with the client, a serialization sheet is filled by the interviewers indicating the session that has taken place, the date and the interviewer’s number. On scanning the form, the data clerk will then sign on the same sheet the date the form was scanned. The sheet helps in identifying the sessions the client has ever gone through and whether the respective forms have been scanned or not at a glance. The serialization sheet is printed on the inside part of the client’s file cover.
Facilities
The Data Management team has got three offices, the Ngong road office, Industrial area office and the maseno office. The office has nine desktop computers, one flash disk, and four high-speed scanners. Questionnaires are entered into the computer using Cardiff Teleform software. All computers have SPSS, DBMS Copy and Microsoft XP Office installed among other programs. The data is shared between the data office computers through the SVN software. Entry Most data is collected on study subjects using questionnaires. These Questionnaires are stored in patient files where they are kept safely. After a patient has seen a staff of Coptic for consultation then her/his file is then brought to the data office the following day for scanning; after which they are returned to the cabinet for safe keeping and future use. The forms are checked for any obvious errors before scanning takes place. This helps to reduce the number of errors encountered during and after scanning. TeleForm Scanning Data Entry at the centre is done using data entry software, called Teleform. Questionnaires are designed using the Teleform designer (the questionnaire designing side of the Teleform). Once information has been entered onto the questionnaires, the questionnaires are scanned using the Teleform Reader (the questionnaire reading software). Only questionnaires designed using this software can be recognized by the software. Data cleaning
1. Once the information is scanned using the Teleform Reader it is then verified to check if the computer is in agreement with the scanned data using the Teleform Verifier. The advantage of this first verification is that quick data checking is done and obvious errors are easily detected. 2. After the verification the data is then exported to SPSS. Once in SPSS format this data is cleaned by cross-checking of the information against the questionnaire on the same day to avoid backlogging and in-efficiencies. 3. The third verification involves inconsistence checks, whereby a simple syntax is developed to check on the inconsistencies available in the data. This is important for making sure that information is not lost in the process, or wrong information is not taken which will not be in agreement with the rest of the information.
Quality
1. The data clerk maintains a data logbook where all the data entry queries or errors encountered during data entry are recorded. Data entry queries or errors are then discussed with the respective interviewers every morning. The interviewers should confirm with the data office every morning whether they have any pending errors. Discussions are held with both interviewer and data clerk or senior data clerk together in front of the computer with corrections to the database being done simultaneously. The data manager ensures that all errors are attended to on a regular basis.
2. The data manager with the help of the senior data clerks ensures that all the data is clean at all times. Questionnaire data is checked for entry accuracy at the time of scanning. In addition, data checking is done on the databases every two weeks and the data manager takes responsibility for organizing the data checking process. If errors are found, the charts are brought from clinic and checked for inconsistencies. A summary report on the data quality and data entry accuracy is then produced by the data manager and distributed to the project investigators.
3. Data checking is done using the following methods:
Ranges and Validity rules
A range of acceptable values has been set for all the appropriate variables. Any values that fall outside this range cannot be accepted by the database. Validity rules are also set where certain variables can only be entered if they comply with a particular rule. For example, the database does not allow outside limit or blank entries for the patient identification numbers and all unreal dates are rejected. The data manager works with the data entry clerks to identify any inconsistent data on a weekly basis. Inconsistency checks are done when the files are in SPSS. The manager then consults with the interviewers to resolve the inconsistencies.
Line listings
The main objectives of line listings include:
1. identifying any errors made during data entry
2. estimating the accuracy rate of the data entry clerk, monitor and asses his/her data entry performance
The data manager produces line listings of all the enrollment and follow-up files on a monthly basis. The data team members then check the line listings against the hard copy questionnaires. Errors are highlighted on the line listings and the error rate approximated thereafter. After the checking has been completed, the data manager lists all the corrections that need to be done in the patient charts on the data entry sheet, this helps the data entry clerk easily identify the corrections that need to be done. Line-listing is done mainly on serology data entry which is done by hand and not through computer scanning.
Missing values
The data entry clerk identifies any missing values during data entry or after running the error syntax. Where values are missing, the data entry clerk notes this down on the data entry sheet of the respective chart and in the data logbook. Every morning, the interviewers review(s) errors that are determined in this manner.
Safety
The database is backed up every Friday by saving the most current files on two CD disks. But on a day to day basis the data is backed up in the server.
The data is also backed up on a monthly basis in the university of Washington website without the clients name in the address and intake and lab results form.
Security
• All databases are password-protected, preventing access by any unauthorized persons.
• Data is backed up on a weekly basis by the both the data clerks and the data manager. Data is saved on two CD disks. One set remains with the data manager and the other is kept by the program manager at an off-site location.
Storage
All forms are all filed in the client’s file and the file kept in the clinic’s medical record department for reference by clinicians. All patient records are filed chronologically using the patients' identification numbers.
Now when the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness,and laying his hands on each one,he healed them.
Luke 4:40