1. Research Data Browser
UCSF ITS - Academic Research Systems
Research Data Browser

2. The goal is to accelerate the clinical scientific discovery process for UCSF
investigators by enabling:
• Accelerated hypothesis generation to a wider audience, prior to CHR
approval, using de-identified data
• Rapid Query – all data in memory, not disk
• Visual Profiling of selected patients
• Export to Excel or Flat File
Overall Goal of Research Data Browser

3. When you access the Research Data Browser, the Select View is the first page
displayed. There are two separate views of the same data: Patient View and
Encounter View.
Select View Page
Data as of: –
displays the
production date.
Most times this
field is two days
behind production.

4. Patient View – All Selections Tab
The “All Selections” tab displays all variables that may be used for selecting patients

5. Patient View – All Selections Tab
• Query for a Sex = Female by clicking the drop-down box
for “Sex” and selecting “Female”

6. Patient View – All Selections Tab
• The Total Patients matching your query conditions
is always displayed
• The “Current Selection” window summarizes what
conditions you have already placed in your current
query
• You can use the Eraser icon to remove conditions
• You can use “Clear Selections” to clear the query
and start again
• The variables that you have used in your selection
will be displayed in Green

7. Patient View – All Selections Tab
• For Diagnosis Name, type “Diabetes Mellitus”
(quotes included) and it will select all diagnoses
that contain “Diabetes” and “Mellitus” in the
same name
• You can accept the whole list, or click-and-drag the
diagnosis names you want

8. Patient View – All Selections Tab
• For selecting on lab values, you first select the lab
test(s) such as “Creatinine”
• Then select a value range such as “>3”. Using the
“>” or “<“ symbol limits resulting values to only
numeric, and only within the requested range

9. Patient View – All Selections Tab
• Use the “?” Icon to show a definition of each
variable in the selection box

10. Add Bookmark
Make a Bookmark of the Current Selection.
In the future, Bookmark applies query to the new dataset

11. Patient View Home Tab
The first tab of the Patient View profiles your currently selected patients by age, diagnosis, discharge
disposition and ordered medications

12. Using a Graph to Change Search Criteria
1. Click on the Skilled
Nursing Homes
(the green pie
piece) on the Top 5
Discharge
Disposition graph.
2. The Top 5
Discharge
Disposition graph
now only displays
Skilled Nursing
Homes
information.
NOTE: As you select your criteria on one tab, it
carries over to all the other tabs.

13. Demographics Tab
Profile Selected Patients by Demographics
Select the Demographics Tab
Note: All Tabs reflect the same Current
Selection
Use the Toggle button to switch
between Age and Age Group

14. Encounters Tab

15. Diagnoses Tab

16. Medications Tab

17. Labs Tab

18. Procedures Tab

19. Exploration Tab – Custom Visualization and Export

20. Exploration Tab – Bar Chart of Creatinines > 3

21. Exploration Tab – Tabulate all Creatinines > 3

22. Exploration Tab – Export all Creatinines > 3

23. HIPAA De-Identified Data
• Data has been de-identified per HIPPA Safe-Harbor definition
• Patient ID, Encounter ID and other identifiers have been replaced by randomly
generated numbers
• Dates have a random offset of up to a year in the past and each patient has
the same offset for all dates
• Ages over 90 are shown as 90
• De-identified data is sensitive information. User’s agree to:
• Not attempt to re-identify the data
• Not share data with unauthorized individuals

24. Limitations of the Research Data Browser
• Only data from encounters after June 1, 2012 are included (APeX go-live date)
• Data is typically one day old – see the Data as of: field
• Procedures and Med Orders are limited to orders manually entered in APeX
by a provider
(ORDER_METRICS):
 No child orders
 No orders created by an interface
 No pending orders
 No historical orders
 No cabinet overrides

25. Why We Are Excited About RDB
• Unleash the creativity of world-class clinical and informatics
scientists
• Quickly ask questions any time of day, without CHR approval or
programmers or funding
• Visually Discover things you weren’t looking for
• We discover errors in the data
• Analyze your (De-identified) data in your own way, with your
own favorite tools, with individual data element-level export
• SAS
• SPSS
• Stata

26. In order to access the Research Data Browser, you need to submit a request
through the ARF – Account Request Form system and complete an Account
Request Form (ARF).
The link to the ARF system is http://arf.ucsfmedicalcenter.org
Accessing the Research Data Browser

27. Giving Feedback to ARS
Your feedback is important to us.
Our goal is to:
• Make the Research Data Browser as useful as possible. Your feedback as to
how we can make the tool and underlying data more useful is appreciated.
• Let us know how we can improve the tool, data training and other related
materials
The Academic Research Systems (ARS) staff is here to assist you in using the tool,
validating your results and to help document any issues.
Please use the Report an Issue link located in the upper right-hand corner of
each page to report any issues or questions. You may also contact ARS at its-
arssupport@ucsf.edu