Surveys are important for the med center for collecting valuable data, whether from an internal or external audience. We want to ensure this information is transferred safely and securely.
In the past, colleagues may have sent surveys via Survey Monkey. However, Survey Monkey is no longer an approved method to send surveys due to license and protected health information (PHI)/HIPAA compliance regulations.
UNMC and Nebraska Medicine have two approved methods for sending surveys: REDCap and Microsoft Office 365 Forms. Microsoft Office 365 Forms provides an easy and secure method to survey your audience.
“REDCap is designed to provide a secure environment so teams can collect and store highly sensitive survey information,” said Lisa Bazis, chief information security officer. “It is a web-based application developed by Vanderbilt University to capture data for clinical research and create databases and projects. It is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant, highly secure, and intuitive to use.”
REDCap offers options to track who has responded, send follow-up reminders, and notify the sender when responses have been received. While REDCap is more complex, it may provide users with the information they need to track responses. UNMC currently has its own version of REDCap; however, any surveys that collect or contain PHI or other confidential information should use the Nebraska Medicine REDCap. For instructions on how to create a REDCap account, click here.
These two programs are Nebraska Medicine approved when sending surveys that contain PHI. No other programs should be used (i.e. Survey Monkey) to obtain survey data.
Access a PDF of how to create a survey in either REDCap or Microsoft Forms.
As of Sunday, Sept. 1, Survey Monkey will no longer be able to be used for Nebraska Medicine or UNMC surveys.
If you have a survey built out in Survey Monkey that you will need to use again, IT recommends you rebuild the survey in REDCap. The following are some key things to remember when using REDCap:
- There is a development/test environment for REDCap. This is used for testing new versions, training, etc. This environment is only available from inside the Nebraska Medicine and UNMC network;
- Users login with their network credentials. However, each user must be approved by a REDCap administrator before being allowed to do anything;
- Only REDCap system administrators can move projects from development status to production;
- Multiple users can be given rights to a project. There are different levels of access a user can be assigned. This is setup/controlled by the project owner; and
- There is a REDCap mobile app.
“Once the survey is built, it is possible to import data into it using a spreadsheet of the correct format, which REDCap can produce,” said Christopher Oster, IT systems manager.
If you have any questions about either of the approved survey methods, REDCap and Microsoft Forms, contact Oster at coster@nebraskamed.com.