Computers And Clinical Audit: An Introduction For Doctors And Health Care Professionals

Computers and Clinical Audit Computers and Clinical Audit AN INTRODUCTION FOR DOCTORS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS Sue Kinn Research Fellow Glasgow University Scotland and Tanya Siann Audit Co-ordinator Lanarkshire Health Board Scotland SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. First edition 1993 © 1993 Sue Kinn and Tanya Siann Originally published by Chapmann & Hall in 1993 Typeset in 10/12 Times by EXPO Holdings, Malaysia ISBN 978-0-412-49280-8 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-6639-1 ISBN 978-1-4899-6639-1 (eBook) Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the UK Copyright Designsand Patents Act, 1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction only in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK. Enquiries conceming reproduction outside the terms stated here should be sent to the publishers at the London address printed on this page. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data available i§ Printedon permanent acid-free text paper, manufactured in accordance with ANSI/NISO Z 39.48- 1992 and ANSI Z 39.48- 1984 Contents Preface PartOne 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 vii lntroduction to Computers Introduction to the hardware Introducing the personal computer Other hardware devices The development of the PC The development of mainframe and minicomputers The origins of personal computers Introduction to the Disk Operating System (DOS) What is an operating system? Disk Operating System - DOS Electronic filing DOS commands Introduction to the software What is software? Userinterfaces Multi-media Software copyrights Designing a database Relational databases Database design Data validation Querying a database Asking questions Looking at the results Databases and audit Introduction to spreadsheets Getting started Looking at results Disadvantages of using a spreadsheet Introduction to word processing Getting started Disadvantages of word processors 3 3 16 23 23 26 36 36 37 40 47 59 59 64 67 67 69 69 70 72 75 75 81 81 83 83 87 89 91 91 99 VI I l~_______________________c_o_N_T_E_N_T_s______________________~ 9 Sharing data and resources Sharing data An introduction to multi-tasking Multi-tasking systems Multi-user systems 100 101 104 106 108 Putting It Into Practice 113 Part Two 10 11 12 Introduction to clinical audit What is audit? How to audit? Practical hints for designing an audit Codes in clinical audit Using codes in a patient database Using clinical codes and classification systems Using codes to link clinical data System development General considerations Small projects Larger computer systems Very !arge computer systems 115 115 117 121 124 125 127 133 137 137 140 145 157 Bibliography Glossary Index 163 165 180 Preface There are many books on audit in general, or audit within specific specialties. There are very few books that contain much practical information about computers and their use in audit. Those that exist tend to Iook at computerised audit systems