Implementation of a novel research platform at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology using REDCap to research new academic healthcare professions – the two national registry studies PA-Reg and AkaP-Reg

Abstract

The academization of healthcare professions such as academically qualified nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are interesting options to resolve the rapidly increasing staff shortage in the German healthcare system and to stabilize patient care. In other countries academically qualified NPs and PAs have already been demonstrated to play a critical role in improving access to healthcare as well as quality of patient care. However, it still needs to be shown if this can be transferred one-to-one to the German healthcare system. Thus, a research platform is necessary to assess and evaluate these new academically qualified healthcare professionals regarding their effects on efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of patient care. Following thorough evaluation of various research tools regarding data safety, feasibility and power, REDCap has been implemented at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) as part of an extensive platform to research these new academic healthcare professions. Particularly, this new research platform and REDCap are currently being used in two nation-wide registry studies on new healthcare professions: PA-Reg investigates the role of PAs and AkaP-Reg the role of academically qualified NPs within the German healthcare system.