Methodological challenges collecting parent phone-call healthcare utilization data

Recommendations by the National Institute of Nursing Research and other groups have strongly encouraged nurses to pay greater attention to cost-effectiveness analysis when conducting research. Given the increasing prominence of translational science and comparative effective research, cost-effective analysis has become a basic tool in determining intervention value in research. Tracking phone-call communication (number of calls and context) with cross-checks between parents and healthcare providers is an example of this type of healthcare utilization data collection. This article identifies some methodological challenges that have emerged in the process of collecting this type of data in a randomized controlled trial: Parent education Through Simulation-Diabetes (PETS-D). We also describe ways in which those challenges have been addressed with comparison data results, and make recommendations for future research.