Design and use of medical record databases

Computers have been introduced to many hospitals in Japan to enhance hospital administrative facilities and clinical laboratory. More recent introduction of computers, however, has aimed at improvement of the quality of medical services. So, it is highly important how to design and how to use the medical record database. The present status of medical record database systems in hospitals in Japan is described. From experience with the planning and use of the system at Fukui Medical School Hospital, the important points and problems in the design of database and file structure, and the ways to accumulate the code the data and their usage are discussed.