On-the-fly form generation and on-line metadata configuration--a clinical data management Web infrastructure in Java

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Informatics
• Database Management Systems

Background:

• Clinical data management requires flexible yet high-performance systems.
• Traditional database models can be rigid for evolving clinical data needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a web-based clinical data management infrastructure using a novel database approach.
• To ensure flexibility in defining and extending clinical data sets while maintaining efficient data handling and query performance.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a "mixed" entity-attribute-value (EAV) database model.
• Integration of a dynamically configurable data dictionary for validation.
• Development of a dynamically assembled online user interface with data transfer objects for dynamic form rendering.

Main Results:

• The "mixed" EAV model balances flexibility with performance advantages over pure EAV systems.
• The system demonstrates efficient data handling and high-performance query execution.
• Successful application in an electronic patient record system and a quality management application.

Conclusions:

• The proposed "mixed" EAV approach provides a robust solution for flexible and performant clinical data management.
• This infrastructure is suitable for applications with evolving data requirements and high performance demands, such as electronic health records.