Rebuilding a Data Manager Team from the Ground up

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (WFBMC) experienced a vacancy of both data managers simultaneously and it was three months before these vacancies were filled. During this time, WFBMC also received a first warning for not achieving the required 90% of forms completion for the CIBMTR Continuous Improvement Project (CPI) and by the time the full time data managers had been hired, there were over 450 forms that were either behind or had errors that required correction. Both of the newly hired data managers had experience with data entry and were internal transfers within the organization. One of the data managers was familiar with hematology terms and neither data manager had experience with form entry for CIBMTR or CIBMTR itself. The new data managers began a couple of weeks before a CPI period opened. In order to train and orient the data managers, they were shown the CIMBTR Manuals and followed the manuals as they entered data. They set up their computers that the manuals are up at all time on one of their screens and refer to the manuals as they enter data. The CIBMTR Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) was (and remains to be) available for almost daily emails and calls regarding questions. The CRC mentioned requesting to receive the CIBMTR Forms Due Report, which is sent on the weekly basis. The data managers use this report to determine which forms to focus on as well as which forms had errors requiring correction. The previous data managers had separated work into TED forms through first 6 months and post 6 month as well as sitting in different areas of the office. The work was not divided up for the new data managers; they sit next to each other in the office and serve as a resource for the others. If they discover that there is an error, they confirm what the correction should be in the manual or by reaching out to the assigned CRS and share this with the other data manager. The data managers have found that using the weekly CIBMTR Forms Due Report has been a very useful tool in keeping up with the required forms for CPI and by the second week of the CPI period, greater than 90% of the forms have been entered. The BMT program had anticipated and received approval of overtime in order to maintain CPI status; however, due to using the weekly report, there has not been any use of overtime in over a year. They have reduced the number of required forms due from 450 forms to around 130 forms due at one time. The weekly report also assisted with identification of corrections, which the data managers correct immediately. Despite being in this position over a year, the data managers remain to have the CIBMTR Manual open on one of their screens and refer to the it frequently. As a result, they are able to share this information with the physicians and the rest of the team. The calls and emails to the assigned CRC remain but have decreased from daily to a couple of times weekly; however, the assigned CRC is always available and a tremendous resource for the team.