ConCERT-D is an electronic patient record designed specifically for the treatment of dementia patients, providing Research & Development (R&D) Departments with the necessary tools to manage consent and easily identify eligible participants for clinical trials.
Download BrochureDesigned by clinicians at the West London Mental Health Trust, ConCERT-D provides an easy-to-navigate tool which, when used in clinical sessions, provides a platform that encourages all parties to contribute.
By providing results and key information on a simple display, the updating of records, both clinical and non-clinical, is a simple and straightforward task for clinicians.
An Electronic Patient Record for clinicians
ConCERT-D displays captured mental assessment scores for tests such as the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) in a graphical way enabling clinicians to relate fluctuations in scores with events that would have happened in the meantime.
The medication module allows clinicians to keep track of the patient diagnosis, prescribed drugs, related side effects, allergies and other conditions. The in-built drug formulary is specially geared towards dementia patients. The Accumulative Anticholinergic Cognitive burden (ACB) is automatically calculated allowing clinicians to make better decisions, ultimately reducing the risks of cognitive impairment and death.
The medication module also allows the clinicians to check the dosages for antidepressants and anti-psychotics being taken by the patient as a percentage of the maximum dosage set for these medications.
A Research Register for the Research & Development (R&D) Department
The ability to easily identify patients and carers that match a clinical trial’s participation criteria provides a highly effective tool to increase participation in research. The R&D Department can build the appropriate participation criteria for clinical trials in ConCERT-D. At a click of a button, the system automatically reports on patients that are eligible for participation in the study.
Once a patient is identified, the R&D Departments speaks to their carers for advice. In some cases internal background checks, tests and screening are carried out. If a patient is found to be suitable and willing to take part he/she is enrolled onto the clinical trial. On the other hand, if found unsuitable, the reason why is logged and the patient is automatically excluded from subsequent participant searches for that trial.
ConCERT-D facilitates accreditation in programs such as The Memory Services National Accreditation Program (MSNAP) allowing hospitals to benchmark their services against national standards and provide quality assurances. MSNAP also enables staff to ensure they are making a meaningful difference to people’s lives as well as supporting implementation of national clinical excellence guidelines. ConCERT-D allows the clinicians to capture MSNAP information during interactions with the patient and then generate reports with the information gathered.
These reports allow the identification of trends, assessment of completeness and are of great use for assessors when rewarding accreditation. This functionality can be adapted to other similar accreditation programs.
Linking people with dementia with high quality research has historically been very problematic. Registering an individual’s interest has proved very effective in earlier pilot work with DemReg but the new ConCERT-D system will allow us to embed the register fully in clinical practice as it acts as both a Research Register and an Electronic Patient Record. This will allow even more people to gain access to the high quality dementia research we undertake.
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