Methodology for Retrospective Chart Review

[synchro_tr0n]

Hello SDN,

I am in an unfortunate situation where I want and need to be involved in research, but I am at a very clinical school where pretty much the only way to get research is to create the opportunity yourself. So I am blindly attempting to do so. I have a study going on now, a chart review on MI's gathering demographic information and clinical information. The residents and PI are not really enthusiastic about this study which has actually left me in a possibly good position: they offered if I want to take over and be first author. As of now we are just gathering data without much of a hypothesis looking for correlations with mortality.

Unfortunately I have very little experience and guidance is difficult to come by. I will have a database of a large amount of information at the end. Do I just run various statistics on the info and look for significance? What is a good source for methodology and considerations needed to form a proper chart review study? What is a good source for methods and explanation of statistical analysis that I could use in this study?

TL/DR
What is a source with methodology for chart reviews, what is a source for understanding the statistics I will need to use?

Thanks so much for your help!! I want research to be a big part of my future, so I want to do this right.

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[Amba]

Depending on what kind of data you are collecting, I may be able to help. Feel free to PM me.

 

[rbnsafsadgf]

step 1: stop what you are you doing
step 2: read literature
step 3: have a research question (think about what is quality and clinical control vs. research)
step 4: write a proposal and go to your schools' IRB
(if you are collecting data without IRB approval the data will likely not be acceptable for publication, anywhere)

A place to start is a book called Designing Clinical Research.