A multifunctional online research portal for facilitation of simulation-based research: a report from the EXPRESS pediatric simulation research collaborative.

INTRODUCTION: Simulation-based research requires the coordinated effort of research teams to design projects, recruit subjects, and carry out performance assessments of individuals or teams. These efforts can often be labor intensive, time consuming, and logistically challenging, especially in the context of multicenter simulation-based research trials.
METHODS: We have developed a multifunctional, internet-based research portal for facilitation of simulation-based research. This free portal, accessible from www.cesei.org, is capable of managing the research process by helping researchers to design their project, setup data collection using customized assessment tools, upload videos for performance assessment, and finally, download data-filled spreadsheets for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: The research portal has been used successfully to manage the first major project of the EXPRESS research collaborative, a multicenter research study involving 15 recruitment sites and more than 400 subjects.
CONCLUSIONS: The use of the research portal has enabled us to simplify and streamline the management of our multicenter research studies. We envision that this portal will permit novice and expert researchers alike to carry out their simulation-based research projects in a coordinated and time-efficient fashion, thus ultimately helping to enhance their overall research productivity.