It is a project created for the needs of „Na Ratunek Dzieciom z Chorobą Nowotworową” (“Help children with Cancer”) foundation and consisted in building a tool for recording data from all pediatric oncology centres in Poland. Hope for Children, therefore, collects data on how sarcomas, kidney tumours, and three types of lymphomas are developing in children.
„Na Ratunek Dzieciom z Chorobą Nowotworową” (http://naratunek.org/) foundation based in Wrocław has been supporting small patients and their families in the fight against cancer for nearly thirty years. This support takes place at various levels – from the purchase of non-reimbursed medicines, through organising various charity events, to organising daily activities in „Przylądek Nadziei” (“Cape of hope”) Clinic for small patients.
In addition to the broadly defined charitable activities, the Foundation supports the development of research in the field of pediatric oncology. “Przylądek Nadziei” Clinic in Wrocław is the national coordinator for the treatment of sarcomas, kidney tumours and lymphomas in Poland.
Therefore, the Foundation faced the challenge of building a central IT tool for recording data from all pediatric oncology centres in Poland. The data collected concern the course of the disease in accordance with international protocols for the treatment of childhood cancers of sarcomas, kidney tumours and three types of lymphomas (ALCL, LB and B). Each protocol is a separate module in the system to which only authorised persons have access.
The system has been developed in accordance with the personal data protection regulations, and all functionalities have been designed in such a way that the user can operate the system intuitively and without the need to duplicate the same data.
An additional advantage of the HOPE FOR CHILDREN project is its structure consisting of two parts. The first internal part of the system is a set of detailed forms for each disease unit, to which only doctors reporting data to the system have access. The second part – external, presents anonymised statistical data in the form of graphs reflecting the data from the first part. Every Internet user has access to the external part.
- Due to very good cooperation, we will certainly continue to expand the HOPE FOR CHILDREN system with further modules. It is our responsibility to recommend cooperation with SI-Consulting (...), says Mirosław Szozda, Vice President of the Board of the Foundation
The reliability of the data collected in relation to the course of the disease has a significant impact on the development of scientific research aimed at developing effective therapeutic methods for the treatment of cancer in paediatric patients.
