A uniform database of rehabilitation as a basis for evaluating the outcome quality

To make it possible to benefit from patient data recorded in rehabilitation clinics, with regard to outcome quality and scientific investigation, the Rehabilitation Research Centre at the University of Ulm has created a rehabilitation register, a database based on ORACLE, into which the relevant patient data is transferred, having been made anonymous via an SQL archiving program. The archived data includes the clinical parameters, the running text of the discharge report, and the doctor's and patient's assessment of the rehabilitation outcome. It can be automatically searched for structured data, according to every conceivable criterion and in every conceivable combination, also in combination with a text search in the running text of the admission and discharge reports and the rehabilitation outcome. With the aid of the rehabilitation register and thanks to the possibilities of EDP (Electronic Data Processing), in future it will be possible to make much more differentiated comments on the rehabilitation outcome than would be the case if the search were restricted to structured data alone. This is essential in order to be able constantly to improve outcome quality and to verify the economic benefit of rehabilitation medicine.