Database technology in health care

In this paper we will introduce the concepts of database technology in a way that will make it easy to relate the issues of the technology to problems in health care. After the objectives of the database approach have been defined, the major components of databases and their function will be discussed. The remainder of this paper presents the scientific and operational issues associated with database technology in health care. In the scientific exposition we will begin with the logical design issues, those that assure that the data will reflect the medical environment correctly, and then we will discuss the choices that are available for the physical implementation of a database on a computer system. The operational aspects will range from data entry to output presentation. The importance and growth of these systems has been well documented. Rather than providing a survey of the field, this exposition is intended to link general concepts to the practices observed by us and others.