Our informatics team is dedicated to optimizing the conduct of high quality clinical and translational research. We assist investigators during project conceptualization, grant submission, data acquisition, and deployment of secure data storage and processing methods.
To connect with an SMPH Informatics team member to discuss your clinical research study, please submit a consult request.
Our Services
Real-World Clinical Data
- Data from UW Health clinical systems
- Assistance with feasibility counts for research projects
- Structured and unstructured data for research projects
- Access to disease specific data commons
- Ad-hoc datasets for individual research projects
- Assistance obtaining real-world health data from national networks
- Consultations on data acquisition for research and quality improvement projects
EHR Recruitment Assistance
- Assistance with UW Health cohort identification and patient enrollment
- Submit a consult request and select “Participant Recruitment & Enrollment” under “Request Information.”
Research Computing and Data Storage
- Secure computing environments for data storage and processing
- Learn more
- Cloud (Platform X: Overview)
EHR Development
- Support for building research functions in the EHR to support interventions, facilitate recruitment, develop best practice alerts (BPAs), and smooth research logistics at the point of care.
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Do I need IRB approval?
Research
IRB approval is required for data requests that require identifiable private information and that meets the federal definition of research. The UW-Madison Health Sciences Institutional Review Board (HS-IRB) website has more guidance, e.g., Does My Research Need IRB Review? and Change in Personnel guidance.
Activities preparatory to research
De-identified data requests to determine study feasibility or plans for participant recruitment do NOT require IRB review. Active participant recruitment DOES need IRB approval.
How do I request clinical research data?
Clinical data can be requested through the informatics consult form. The more preparation you do, the better we can help you with your data request. To help you fill out the optional Data Elements section, begin by creating a detailed description of the patients who are relevant to your research question, including dates of service, demographics, diagnoses, procedures, treatments, and lab tests and determining exact ICD9, ICD10 and CPT codes for your query. Other elements to consider include:
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Inclusion Date Range
- Study population (age, gender, race, ethnicity)
- Data elements needed
- Define the constraints (filters)
- Inpatient
- Outpatient
- “Medical home” here
- Department restrictions
- Data format for delivery
What should I expect after I’ve submitted my request?
Step 1: Initial review
We start by evaluating requests to make sure your request is clear, complete, and feasible for us to fulfill. We’ll also verify that the primary requester or the PI is an authorized UW investigator.
Step 2: Fulfillment
Once you and your colleagues are verified as authorized users and IRB approval is confirmed, we can fulfill your data request. When the data is ready, we will email you with instructions for accessing your data.
Step 3: Working with your data
After your request is fulfilled, we are available to help you better understand and work with your data. This may involve assistance with data visualization and identifying caveats in the clinical data.
What if I need more informatics support?
We can also help you work with your data.
Complete the consult form if you want to:
- Get help managing your data.
- Get informatics support for grant applications.
- Be introduced to other informatics experts.