OpenClinica User Manual/RemovingSubjects

Remove and auto-removed
In the course of your trial, chances are that you will have to "remove" a subject, or trial-participant. You can do this by using the menu-option Tasks-Administration-Subjects. In the list with all subjects you scroll to your Subject or you filter the list to get the right person. Then you click on the X-icon and the status of the person will change from "available" to "removed". So far so good. But you may be surprised to see the Subject still in the Subject-matrix and with status "auto-removed".

First of all the difference between "removed" and "auto-removed". "Subject" is one level higher than "Study Subject", so if you remove a subject in the way described above, you remove the top-level and the sub-levels are "auto-removed". To see the same difference: Use the Subject-matrix and click on the magnifying glass-icon. Here you see option "Study Subject Record" (top) and "Global Subject Record" (bottom).

Cleaning your subject matrix
It is expected behaviour that after you "remove" a Study Subject or even after you "remove" a Subject, this person still shows up in the subject matrix, due to regulations. If you do not want your list to get cluttered, consider creating an extra site for your study called "RemovedSubjects" or another appropriate name. You can assign Subjects to this site after "removing" them. This way they will not show up in the regular Subject-matrix. Remember that this will only work if you specify assign users to one or more Study-sites, as opposed to assigning them to the whole Study.