HERSHEY, Pa. — TriNetX Live, a tool to help clinical researchers with data discovery and study feasibility, is now available through Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Training sessions are available on Thursday, June 14, at University Park, and Friday, June 15, at Hershey.
TriNetX Live is like another institute tool called Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside, also known as i2b2. Both are searchable databases of more than 1 million Penn State Health patient observations dating back to 1997; however, TriNetX Live includes a more user-friendly graphical interface and dedicated customer service that can help with creating queries.
Through TriNetX Live and i2b2, users can search without prior Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for de-identified patients meeting their specified criteria. Such a search can help researchers determine whether enough potential patients are available to properly conduct a research study. With an IRB approval and an enterprise information management request, patient level data can be requested.
The following training sessions will be available:
- Prospective Studies and Clinical Trials Using TriNetX Live is for researchers and study staff and is geared towards study feasibility, cohort discovery and recruitment process.
- Secondary Analyses and Retrospective Research Using TriNetX Live is for population health researchers, epidemiologists and other researchers who leverage retrospective secondary clinical and billing data for research.
- Back End Technical training is for research informatics, enterprise information management and other internal local IT support.
Users can attend sessions that are most relevant to their needs. Registration is required; users may obtain a login and conduct actual searches during the training. Attendees need to bring a laptop to the training.
TriNetX is currently being used by nearly 30 of Penn State’s peers in the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program. It combines data with a global health research network enabling healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations to collaborate, enhance trial design, accelerate recruitment and bring new therapies to market faster.
It also offers chart and graph options for data visualization and includes a rate of arrival algorithm. This algorithm determines how many patients matching certain criteria visited Penn State Health within the past three years and then predicts how many potential visits will happen each quarter over the next year. A Trial Connect feature allows clinical research organizations and industry sponsors to determine and connect with potential study sites via institutional liaisons Dr. Neal Thomas, associate dean for clinical research, and Terry Novchich, director of the Clinical Trials Office at the College of Medicine.
Time, location and registration information is available here. For more information on TriNetX Live access, email i2b2@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.