eCPSP frequently asked questions

eCPSP is an online database that can be accessed by CPSP participants and principal investigators. Participants can report their cases directly to the database each month, look up real-time statistics on what has been reported across the country, and check the status of the cases they have reported. All CPSP physician resources and ADR (adverse drug reactions) Tips are also available through eCPSP. Participants can even earn maintenance of certification credits through learning associated with eCPSP. The CPSP is now looking into making detailed questionnaires available to complete online.

Yes.

1. The database sends an automated e-mail every month with a link to the database. The link is unique to the participant and the month.
2. You just click the link, and a report page opens in your web browser. The report page looks a lot like the existing form you receive in the mail.
3. You click a + button beside a study if you have seen cases under that study that month. Or you just click the button to say, ‘no cases to report’. You’re done. You can click over to the study protocols and inclusion criteria right there as well if you are not sure whether your case qualifies.
4. If you report a case, you’ll receive a hard copy of the detailed questionnaire in the mail. By using eCPSP, it will reach you faster, because we can now receive and respond to your report more quickly. Online detailed questionnaires will be available in the future.

Online reporting is more efficient because delays between reporting cases are reduced, detailed questionnaires are mailed sooner, and cases are confirmed earlier. This means the program can report on public health concerns quickly, and the work for all studies can be done more effectively. It also saves paper and postage costs, which can be reinvested in developing CPSP to better serve paediatricians and other physicians.

Further information can be found in An innovative web based system for reporting rare diseases in paediatrics, an article published in Online Journal of Public Health Informatics.

No, you don’t have to sign up. If you wish to continue reporting by hard copy, you can. Ultimately, the response rate and the data quality are most important, so we are happy to meet the needs of participants.

During the pilot stages of eCPSP, the program included all the major children’s hospitals in the testing to ensure that e-mails could be received, even with strict firewalls in place. However, some individual e-mail accounts have specific settings that prevent e-mails from reaching participants. If you have a concern, let the CPSP staff know and we can run a test with your account directly.

The system will send you an e-mail each month from CPSP, asking you to report. So you don’t need to remember. You just have to click the link in the e-mail and respond. An additional reminder e-mail will be sent at the one-week interval if no response has been received. And if you miss a month for some reason, the system will remind you the following month.

eCPSP will e-mail you once each month to remind you to report, and to confirm that your report was successfully submitted. If you are up-to-date on your report, you won’t receive any other e-mails beyond what you might usually receive from CPSP. An additional reminder e-mail will be sent at the one-week interval if no response has been received.

It will work on an iPhone or iPad. Adapting it to work easily on other smartphones, like Blackberry, requires specialized programming. The Program will look into the possibility if there is enough demand; however, the focus is currently on the main system.

The data is fully encrypted, and transmitted and hosted securely in Canada. It’s hosted at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, a level 4 facility, by the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence, which is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada. The data will only be used for the defined purposes of CPSP.

• Data is transmitted using SSL technology.
• Host servers are protected by firewalls.
• Role-based user-level security is in place to limit access to electronic data.
• Auditing of user actions is performed.

You can switch back to hard copies. Just send us an e-mail. No problem.

Just like with the paper report, even if you did not see any of the reportable cases during the month of the report, it is still very important to indicate ‘no cases seen’ in eCPSP. Reporting ‘no cases seen’ helps to set the population denominator, thereby providing more accurate data.

Yes. The online reporting forms are sent to you in your preferred official language (English or French). If you are not receiving your monthly reports in your preferred language, please send us an e-mail at [email protected] and we will be happy to change it.