Clinical Informatics

Electronic Discharge

The team has developed an electronic healthcare information capture instrument, Electronic Discharge (ED), for several Wits-affiliated hospitals, including Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

Why use ED?

  • Secure & Compliant - Adheres to international best practices for patient information secrecy, privacy, and security.
  • Free to End-Users - Supported by the Wits Health Consortium and the Faculty of Health Sciences at no cost to the end-users.
  • Reliable System - Workstations with University internet connection, printers and dedicated support personnel ensure near 100% system uptime.
  • Only registered clinicians have access to the clinical records
  • Clinician Access - Only registered clinicians have access to the clinical record and can create/search discharge summaries from any device.
  • Smart Data Entry - ICD-10 and procedure code search functions help clinicians input accurate information.
  • Permanent Records - Summaries are stored electronically and can be reprinted anytime
  • Paper Copies on Discharge - PDFs are generated for hospital files and patients.
  • Reporting & Research - Regular reports are provided, and aggregated data is available for research, subject to the University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences Medical Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval.

Research Informatics

REDCap

The faculty hosts a web-based research data management tool, REDCap, which is quicker and more secure than paper-based. REDCap was developed specifically for use by clinicians and scientists, and has an intuitive interface that most find easy to adopt. We also provide training sessions, one-on-one project design consultation and helpdesk support.

Why use REDCap?

  • Secure - Full user authentication, customizable user rights, real-time data validation, centralized secure storage, data de-identification, and audit trails.
  • Web-based - Access and manage data from anywhere via a secure web connection with authentication and logging.
  • Fast & Easy - Rapid project setup with no programming required. From concept to production in under a day, with an intuitive interface and readily available training materials.
  • Full customizable - You are in total control of shaping your database.
  • Custom reporting - Generate reports, visualize trends with built-in statistics and charts, and identify patterns in your data.
  • Data export - Seamless data downloads to common statistical packages (including SPSS, SAS, Stata, and R) and to the .csv (comma separated values) format, for further analysis.
  • Data import - Import data seamlessly using Microsoft Excel’s advanced features.
  • Flexible survey distribution - Send personalized survey invitations via email or generate an anonymous link for mass distribution via websites, flyers, or social media.
  • Data quality - Ensure accuracy with field validation, branching logic, missing data codes, and real-time discrepancy resolution.
  • Connect to other resources - Use built-in features (API) to connect your project with other systems.

Bioinformatics

Recent years have seen a tremendous increase in the rate at which raw sequencing data is produced due to the reduced cost and improved technology of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms. Many researchers across the globe are now adopting multiple "omics" (genome, transcriptome, proteome, epigenome, metabolome and microbiome) technologies to understand life and answer many biological questions. The analysis of such large "multi-omics" datasets, however, does come with its challenges, especially to a Bioinformatics novice and researchers with little or no Bioinformatics background. WitsBITS offers Bioinformatics services to assist researchers in and around the Wits community with their "multi-omics" datasets, from storage to analysis and biological interpretation.

Bioinformatics services offered include (but not limited to):

  • Bioinformatics research project planning
  • Transfer and storage of NGS data on the Wits Core Cluster
  • Creation of user accounts on the Wits Core Cluster:
  • Analyses and interpretation of NGS “omics” data:
  • Bioinformatic workflows (pipelines)
  • Bioinformatics teaching (as courses or small group sessions)

Bioinformatics services are offered at negotiated fees. For detailed quotes and queries, please contact: Phelelani.Mpangase@wits.ac.za