A method for developing and maintaining a powerful but inexpensive computer data base of clinical information about...

We describe a method of creating and maintaining a computer data base containing demographic, diagnostic, procedural, and laboratory data on all emergency department patients. The data base is inexpensive because it avoids redundant data entry; instead, it relies on data already entered into the hospital computers. It is unobtrusive because the ED providers do not have to complete any extra paperwork; data captured on other hospital computers are transferred to the ED data base, making the ED computer a data "parasite." It is powerful because data can be extracted in arbitrarily complex ways using common relational data base software. The data base facilitates administrative, quality improvement, and research tasks for ED managers and researchers. By using standard diagnostic and procedural coding schemes, comparison of patient populations from different EDs can be accomplished. The technologic and financial requirements of this type of data base are within the reach of most EDs.