NCATS
ID: 9R44TR000176-02A1
PI: REBECCA KAMENY, PhD, CHRISTOPHER HEHMAN, BS
TERM: 08/12 – 07/15

Clinical science and its translation into preventive and clinical patient care are the primary means by which the nation’s health care goals are fulfilled. NIH’s broad mission to improve health outcomes for all people can only be achieved if scientific advances are transformed into improvements in public health.

As emphasized throughout the NIH Roadmap, there is a critical need to build our nation’s research capacity for clinical and translational research so that findings can be more quickly and effectively translated into clinical practice. This Phase II SBIR project will continue the research and development of Research Implementation and Management System (RIMS), the first integrated system of online research tools specifically designed to meet the needs of clinical and translational scientists in the social and behavioral fields.

Through efficient, cost-effective, and tailored research implementation and management tools, RIMS will harness the Internet’s power to effectively increase research capacity. RIMS will integrate and streamline all needed research activities from recruitment and retention to human participant protections to data collection and database management. RIMS will be broadly applicable, providing customizable tools that can be easily integrated into a research protocol. Further, RIMS’ online tools are built on robust, HIPAA-compliant data security standards.

No other product provides a comprehensive suite of integrated research implementation and management tools tailored to the needs of social/behavioral researchers. Phase I feasibility test results with researchers provide strong support for continued development and testing of RIMS. During Phase II, we will build on Phase I feedback to finalize the fully functioning web-based product and conduct a field test examining the degree to which RIMS enhances the quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of clinical and translational research.

This Phase II project will accomplish three specific aims:
1) Full product development and usability testing with clinical and translational researchers in the social and behavioral sciences (PIs, Project Coordinators, & Research Staff; n=20 per group);
2) Field testing in collaboration with 12 research teams to examine the impact of RIMS over a 6-month period in cost-effectiveness, time efficiency, recruitment and retention, data quality, and satisfaction;
3) Finalizing the product based on test results and user evaluations. Over the course of 3-C ISD’s work with research scientists, it has become clear there is a large unmet need and demand for web-based research management tools, particularly in social and behavioral fields (see letters of support).

By making such technologies affordable and broadly applicable, RIMShas the potential to significantly advance the research capacity of clinical and translational research through high quality, time-efficient, and cost-effective research management and implementation tools. As a result, our nation’s ability to transform research findings into improved health outcomes can be strengthened and accelerated.