Purpose
Touching Hands is an American Society for Surgery of the Hand program that provides
hand surgeries to the world’s underserved communities. The purpose of this study was
to develop and implement a systematic data collection method for Touching Hands to
assess patient outcomes, volunteer impact, alleviated disease burden, and cost-effectiveness.
Methods
Research electronic data capture (REDCap) was used as the secure software platform
to facilitate data collection. The Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand
questionnaire was used to assess pre-and postoperative patient-reported outcomes.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services (Medical Personnel) survey was administered
to volunteers before and after the mission to measure impact on volunteers. Case information
was collected to calculate disability-adjusted life years and cost-effectiveness.
Results
The data collection system was implemented in some capacity in 4 domestic and 3 international
mission sites during 2020 and 2021.
Conclusions
Substantial limitations exist for the implementation of a systematic data collection
framework for Touching Hands and warrant further modification and optimization.
Clinical Relevance
A REDCap database can be used for standardized and centralized patient and volunteer
data collection for Touching Hands missions.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 14, 2022
Accepted:
August 24,
2022
Received:
January 12,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
Supported by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand’s Clinical Research Grant (Award 2821). The database used for the described analyses was obtained from the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical Translational Research which is supported by the CTSA grant UL1TR000445 from NCATS/NIH.
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
