Organizations seeking to reduce costs in conducting scientific and market research can now efficiently attain that goal. OpenSurvey is a service provided through a collaborative technology development effort between Western Reserve Systems Group (WRSG) and the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM).

Utilizing a simple form-based interface, which can be accessed globally through a secure Internet interface, OpenSurvey users are able to design custom surveys and easily distribute these surveys to a handheld format on the Pocket PC platform. The surveyor takes only the handheld device into the field to gather respondents’ information. After all responses are collected, the surveyor can export the results and upload the data to a secure online database. Once uploaded, summary data analysis is immediately available and globally accessible for authorized subject matter experts to review online.

This streamlined process greatly reduces error, as information goes from the point of collection directly to the database without the need to re-key or run separate data analysis.

The Handheld Database and Survey Application Development involves providing a portable platform for medical research to perform patient histories (CDHAM.org). This platform must be flexible enough to maintain several survey criteria along with patient information in a database format. It is currently utilized in remote locations on the PocketPC platform and replicates data with a primary secure SQL server through satellite communications systems.

This data is immediately accessible to home based supervisory and medical personnel via secure Internet interface for analysis, diagnosis and recommended treatment. It will be implemented along with several other telemedicine devices to provide full medical services to regions previously inaccessible to such medical technology expertise.