Why use OpenSpecimen eConsents over REDCap?

Many centers use REDCap to collect eConsents. REDcap is used for data collection. However, eConsenting has many more needs than just data collection.

Here is the list of features that OpenSpecimen’s eConsents supports, which REDCap does not support.

Versioning: Consents can change over time. New questions can be added, edited, or removed. It is essential to track which participant is consented on which version and reconsent if needed.

OpenSpecimen’s eConsents allows you version forms, give version numbers, and archive versions not needed anymore.

Reusing Consent Questions across languages: While both systems support multiple language forms, in REDCap, each form is independent. In OpenSpecimen, you can reuse the same Consent Question (CQ) across different versions and languages. 

For example, a CQ like “Consent to distributing samples to commercial companies” can be reused in Spanish and English forms - thereby making reporting across forms seamless.

Reusing fields across forms/languages: Similar to consent questions, fields like consent witness, consent date, signature, etc can be reused.

Reporting: REDCap does not support condition-based reporting. E.g., show patients who are turning 18 in the next 90 days for reconsenting. Or generate reports based on consent questions or fields. OpenSpecimen’s Reporting module is easy to use and can be used by end-users to create very advanced reports, schedule, save, share, etc.