The Four Types Of eSource

eSource means different things to different people. You may have never even heard of it, so this is the first in a series of posts which aim to unlock what eSource is.

When I ask “What does eSource mean to you?”, I receive many different answers, and quite often they weren’t what I had expected.

Perhaps we should start by reminding ourselves of the current method for collecting and managing data in clinical trials. Most trials use EDC (Electronic Data Capture), where data is collected elsewhere, then transcribed into an EDC system. That data could be initially collected on paper source, or electronically into a site’s EHR system.

“Doing eSource” is a mixture of removing the need for paper source, and also utilizing the data that is already collected and stored electronically. This means we can split eSource into four different categories.