Harnessing 21 Years of Data with the National Children's Study

The National Children's Study (NCS) is historic - it will assemble more data on our youth than ever before. Starting with as many as 400,000 mothers-to-be, it is an enormous undertaking to be sure, and will result in a greater understanding of the health issues facing our next generation, from pre-birth to age 21.

Slingshot is proud and excited that its asset tracking software is being used by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to track all medical assets on the study. From the warehouse (eStock) to the study centers (where orders to replenish supplies will be generated using eRequest) and back to the procurement team (eBuy), Slingshot's asset tracking software will be right in the middle of the action.

There are a number of not-so-unique challenges on this project from an asset tracking software perspective:

• Many of the medical assets/supplies will be very valuable, and their efficient, central control will be critical.
• The asset tracking software will need to be easy to use with minimal training, as many of the staff at satellite study centers will be part time volunteers. A high turnover of these volunteers is anticipated, and their skills in patient care are why they're there, not their data entry and system usage abilities - it simply has to be easy for them to use.
• Predictive ordering based on analysis of the consumption of medical assets/supplies will be necessary to minimize "stock-on hand", particularly in light of the cost of some of the kits that will be assembled for each study location.

The importance of database technology in the study is not lost on its management team. An article published on InformationWeek.com makes this point clearly. With the total data set expected to be in the multiple-terabyte range, Slingshot's asset tracking software will integrate with the front line medical data as it emerges, making the analysis of cost per subject a simple matter.

Slingshot's medical asset tracking software will be right at home in this demanding environment. The whole team here is looking forward to continuing its asset tracking work on the NCS project, as it is definitely taking the collective lexicon of knowledge on children's health to the next level.