Abstract
BACKGROUND: Health and health-related data collected as part of clinical care is a foundational component of quality improvement and research. While the importance of these data is widely recognized, there are many challenges faced by researchers attempting to use such data. It is crucial to acknowledge and identify barriers to improve data sharing and access practices and ultimately optimize research capacity. OBJECTIVE: To better understand the current state, explore opportunities, and identify barriers, an environmental scan of investigators at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) was conducted to elucidate current local practices around data access and usage. METHODS: The Clinical and Community Data, Analytics and Informatics group at BCCHR comprises over 40 investigators with diverse expertise and interest in data who share a common goal of facilitating data collection, usage, and access across the community. Semistructured interviews with 35 of these researchers were conducted, and data were summarized qualitatively. A total impact score, considering both frequency with which a problem occurs and the impact of the problem, was calculated for each item to prioritize and rank barriers. RESULTS: Three main themes for barriers emerged: the lengthy turnaround time before data access (18/35, 51%), inconsistent and opaque data access processes (16/35, 46%), and the inability to link data (15/35, 43%) effectively. Less frequent themes included quality and usability of data, ethics and privacy review barriers, lack of awareness of data sources, and efforts required duplicating data extraction and linkage. The two main opportunities for improvement were data access facilitation (14/32, 44%) and migration toward a single data platform (10/32, 31%). CONCLUSIONS: By identifying the current state and needs of the data community onsite, this study enables us to focus our resources on combating the challenges having the greatest impact on researchers. The current state parallels that of the national landscape. By ensuring protection of privacy while achieving efficient data access, research institutions will be able to maximize their research capacity, a crucial step towards achieving the ultimate and shared goal between all stakeholders-to better health outcomes.