Databases for psychiatrists

Advances in computer technology have made databases more widespread and accessible, bringing both opportunities and benefits to psychiatrists. Their increasing usefulness has also resulted in increased expectations by others, such as accrediting agencies and payers, that psychiatrists have the capacity to manage outcome and utilization data as well as other information. This paper provides an overview of the uses of databases in psychiatry, describes basic principles and features of relational databases, and reviews some of the features of currently available database-development packages.