Browsing by Author "Spies, Ruan Arnold"

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    Concept and development of an interactive tool for trial recruitment planning and management
    (BMC (part of Springer Nature), 2021-03-06) Spies, Ruan Arnold; Siegfried, Nandi; Myers, Bronwyn; Grobbelaar, Sara S.
    Background: Predicting and monitoring recruitment in large, complex trials is essential to ensure appropriate resource management and budgeting. In a novel partnership between clinical trial investigators of the South African Medical Research Council and industrial engineers from the Stellenbosch University Health Systems Engineering and Innovation Hub, we developed a trial recruitment tool (TRT). The objective of the tool is to serve as a computerised decisions-support system to aid the planning and management phases of the trial recruitment process. Method: The specific requirements of the TRT were determined in several workshops between the partners. A Poisson process simulation model was formulated and incorporated in the TRT to predict the recruitment duration. The assumptions underlying the model were made in consultation with the trial team at the start of the project and were deemed reasonable. Real-world data extracted from a current cluster trial, Project MIND, based in 24 sites in South Africa was used to verify the simulation model and to develop the monitoring component of the TRT. Results: The TRT comprises a planning and monitoring component. The planning component generates different trial scenarios for predicted trial recruitment duration based on user inputs, e.g. number of sites, initiation delays. The monitoring component uses and analyses the data retrieved from the trial management information system to generate different levels of information, displayed visually on an interactive, user-friendly dashboard. Users can analyse the results at trial or site level, changing input parameters to see the resultant effect on the duration of trial recruitment. Conclusion: This TRT is an easy-to-use tool that assists in the management of the trial recruitment process. The TRT has potential to expedite improved management of clinical trials by providing the appropriate information needed for the planning and monitoring of the trial recruitment phase. This TRT extends prior tools describing historic recruitment only to using historic data to predict future recruitment. The broader project demonstrates the value of collaboration between clinicians and engineers to optimise their respective skillsets.
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    Development of an interactive tool to support the evaluation of clinic-based health information systems
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Spies, Ruan Arnold; Grobbelaar, Sara S.; Botha, Adele; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Primary health care is considered the foundation of the health system and the principal vehicle for achieving good health and well-being for all people. A large number of challenges are faced in delivering high-quality care in South Africa’s primary health care system due to numerous adverse factors, including the historic fragmentation of the health system, inadequate infrastructure and immense resource constraints. To mitigate these adverse factors, clinic-based health information systems (CBHIS) aim to consolidate information relevant to the primary health care environment from various stakeholders across multiple areas of interest.However, CBHIS also face various socio-technical problems which lessen their effectiveness. The evaluation of CBHIS allows for these problems to be identified and mitigated; it also helps in establishing trends of well-functioning aspects which may be disseminated for system improvement.Thus, supporting the evaluation of CBHIS would strengthen the primary health care system.In this study, an interactive tool is developed to support the evaluation of CBHIS. The interactive tool is developed, refined and validated through multiple design cycle iterations, as informed by the Design Science Research framework. Various tool components are established by leveraging insights obtained from the Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Information Systems domain. These components are refined through conducting a theoretical case study of the Stock Visibility System and critically evaluated by multiple subject-matter experts to ensure the rigour of the development process and relevance to support evaluation.The components are consolidated and implemented on a computer as the final interactive tool to support the evaluation of CBHIS. The interactive tool comprises three outputs which present a tangible set of interrelated evaluation concepts in a simple, structured and useful manner, namely,a concept inventory, responsive concept map and an evaluation support document. The interactive tool is demonstrated to illustrate its applicability and capacity to support the evaluation of CBHIS.