Confirming documentation

Confirming documentation checks every statement and number in a manuscript that needs documenting against the source passage that supports it. Done electronically, the check produces one PDF in which each manuscript page is followed by its highlighted source pages, in place of the binder the manual method produces.

Manual and electronic methods

Confirming documentation, known colloquially as fact-checking, is among the most important tasks of a medical communicator, and done manually it is cumbersome and expensive. ¹ The manual method's final product is for the most part a three-ring binder, and archiving the binders can take up valuable storage space. ¹ Confirming documentation electronically is easier, and in 2007 it could be done with a computer that had a word processing system and Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional. ¹ Its final product is a PDF file rather than a heavy binder. ^{1, 2} The PDF can be distributed easily, so telecommuters and their clients can reduce the overhead of shipping and office supplies, and archiving it electronically is more secure, cheaper and more space-efficient than archiving large binders. ² Introducing the electronic method entails a learning curve among clients, supervisors and coworkers, but Acrobat is so widely used that most computer-literate people will adapt quickly. ²

Preparing the manuscript and the sources

Both the manuscript and its source documents must be prepared before any statement is checked. ³ Five steps set that preparation in order: ³

• Create a directory and put a copy of the manuscript file in it.
• Use the word processor's highlight tool to mark every statement and number in the manuscript that needs to be documented.
• Convert the manuscript to PDF.
• Gather the source documents already available as PDFs, such as online journal articles, into the same directory.
• Convert the remaining sources, in print or in other file formats, to PDF, either through a conversion process or by scanning and then converting.

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The preparation takes considerably less time where an electronic repository of source documents is routinely created and maintained. ³

Checking each statement against its source

Four steps, using Acrobat's tools as they stood in 2007, set the checking itself in order once the sources are collected: ⁴

• Search the source document for the support for each statement or number. Acrobat's search function (Ctrl-F on a PC, Command-F on a Mac) can speed this where the file was converted to PDF rather than scanned and then converted.
• Highlight each supporting statement, with the Rectangle Tool for images and for text in files scanned to PDF, and with the Highlight Text Tool for text in files converted to PDF.
• Insert the relevant source pages into the manuscript PDF by dragging each from the navigation pane of the source PDF into the navigation pane of the manuscript PDF. Supporting documentation should immediately follow each manuscript page, and to reduce confusion the pages are inserted in the order in which the manuscript page refers to them.
• Where the check raises a concern, such as an error in the manuscript, call attention to it with the Note Tool.

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The Rectangle Tool's fill opacity should be set at 30%, which lets a reader see the highlighting on the printed manuscript without obscuring the text, and its fill colour should be adjusted to match the Highlight Text Tool's. ⁵

Printing the manuscript and its notes

Although the electronic method allows electronic delivery and archiving, print copies may still be needed for internal review, and the finished file may exceed the limits that companies and internet service providers place on e-mail attachments. ⁶ In Acrobat as it stood in 2007, the final manuscript is printed with Document and Comments selected under "Print What" in the print dialog, because with Document alone the comments, including the highlighting and the notes, are left out. ⁶ Notes made with the Note Tool have to be printed separately. ⁶ Four steps set that printing in order: ⁶

• Show the comments list.
• Filter it by type to show only the notes.
• Set the print options to comments only and to only the comments currently showing.
• Print the comments summary.

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The notes then print as a page-by-page summary. ⁷