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INTRODUCTION
The goal of any system development is to develop and implement the system cost effectively;
user-friendly and most suited to the user’s analysis is the heart of the process. Analysis is the
study of the various operations performed by the system and their relationship within and
outside of the system. During analysis, data collected on the files, decision points and
transactions handled by the present system. Krishna medical center, luck now (K. M. C.) is a
prestigious hospital situated in the heart of Hazrat Genj with a very large patient capacity. This
number is increasing at a rapid pace with each passing day. The management of the hospital is
concerned with the increasing effort in keeping records of the patient and recording their
activities. Health is generally said to be wealth. It takes healthy people to generate the wealth
the nation requires for the general well-being of its people. There is therefore the need for
adequate Medicare especially in the area of diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Since there is a
good relationship between the job output and health of the workers, a good Medicare is vital.
lacking due to how standard of technological know-how and manual handling of most medical
problems. As observed by Lyiama H.C. and D.C. Chukwu, “very often, people in developing
countries who are critically ill are rushed abroad for special treatment because it is felt
that Medicare facilities at home are inadequate. This is partly because computer – aided
1
Medicare has become a reality in many developed countries”. It is also a known fact that
the production of qualified medical doctors and other medical personnel and
2
consultants in on the increase, but his is not enough to meet the health needs of the increasing
This situation creates problems, because proper and adequate medical attention of patients is far-
fetched. Nowadays, the low-income class is mostly affected. Doctors hurry over their duties
in order to attend to all the patients. At the end of the day, they are tired and over worked.
Considering the rate of population growth the medical care and facilities available, and the health
needs of the people, computer-aided Medicare is in evitable for more accurate. Furthermore, with
the present shift to an information society, it is necessary to anticipate the future use of a
sophisticated electronic machine the computer. This is necessary because the computer is rapidly
finding its way into every field of human Endeavor, including medicine. Its application includes
emergencies, surgical operations, diagnosis and automation of medical records. For instance,
during a complex surgical operation as exemplified by Lyiama and Chukwu, “the computer
monitors person being operated on, revealing all vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, breathing
rate, etc) of interest to the doctors in the theatre, thus helping them to be more accurate and
effective in what they are doing. Such a patient monitoring system can be with a video Display
Unit (VDU), a keyboard for interactive inputs and an alarm”. The wide range of the use of
computer is due to its versatility as a data processing machine and its ability to do things
including complicated tasks faster, better and more accurately than human beings would.
3
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
It has been observed that to receive medical treatment in most of our hospitals, the patients
queue up for several hours from one unit of the hospital to another starting from obtaining a new
hospital folder, or retrieving an old one before consulting a doctor, to the laboratory unit for lab
test then to the pharmacy to get the prescribed drugs and so on. With the manual processes
involved in handling the patient most of them waste the whole day in the hospital. Very often,
patients leave their homes very early in the morning in order to be among the first group to see the
doctor. Otherwise, they may end up wasting the whole day without due attention.
This situation is discouraging to most patients and sometimes forces them to turn to non-
Moreover, the volume of work for the hospital personnel is much. Patients outnumber the
doctors, nurses and other medical personnel that too much are required from them. In this
regard, to examine all his patients for the day the doctor hurries over his work without
adequate attention and expertise to his clients. Still, at the end of the day he is exhausted.
In addition to this, the diagnosis and prescription depend on the doctor’s memory and drug of
choice. Their brains are often loaded with different diseases, signs and symptoms, complications
and various drugs for their treatment and so on. Some of which are very similar. To remember
and process this huge information in his clinical work is very tasking. For this reason accurate
5
filled. Hence, it is not easy to obtain accurate and timely information or data.
This is also the case with obtaining other medical information and data especially when new
Finally, the keeping of folder for each patient manually takes a lot of time and money and some
of the information are redundant. All these have net effect of loss of lives and inefficiency on the
part of management.
1. To examine the current procedures employed in our hospitals with regards to patients
bills and payments. The software developed will be carried out using HTML, CSS, PHP,
1.5 LIMITATIONS
This project covers all aspect of medical system with regards to patient’s information. Due to
time and financial constraint, the software developed excluded laboratory units.
Several possible advantages to practical patient billing software System over paper records have
8
Reduction of cost
A vast amount of funds are allocated towards the health care industry. The
The implementation of electronic health records (EHR) can help lessen patient sufferance
9
data for research that can accelerate the level of knowledge of effective medical practices.
Realistically, these benefits may only be realized if the systems are interoperable and wide
spread (for example, national or regional level) so that various systems can easily share
information.
EHR systems have the advantages of being able to connect to many electronic medical record
systems. In the current global medical environment, patients are shopping for their procedures.
Electronic Health Record– An electronic health record (EHR) (also electronic patient record
6
INFORMATION – Information is data, or raw facts, shaped into useful form for
human use.
whole, working together to achieve specific tasks. A system includes an orderly arrangement
7
Subsystems constitute the entire system. They are complete systems on their own but exit in
another system called the complex system. Subsystems can be further decomposed into smaller
subsystems until the smallest subsystems are of manageable size. The subsystems resulting from
this process generally form hierarchical structures. In the hierarchy, a subsystem is one of a
Expert system: is software that uses a knowledge base of human expertise for problem
solving, or clarify uncertainties where normally one or more human experts would need to
be consulted.
Hospital information system (HIS): variously also called clinical information system (CIS)
financial and clinical aspects of a hospital. This encompasses paper-based information processing
MIS- Management Information System is the system that stores and retrieves information
and data, process them, and present them to the management as information to be used in making
decision. It can also be defined as an integrated machine system that provides information to
support the planning and control functions of managers in all organizations. By these
definitions, MIS must serve the basic functions of management, which include planning,
organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Information systems that only support operations
7
MCS- Management Control system is a form of Information System used by the management of
8
subsystems such as the hardware system, the operating system, the communication system and
the database system. Management control systems are human artifacts. This means that MCS
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Terry (2005), electronic health record (HER) is an evolving concept defined as a
is a record in digital format that is capable of being shared across different health care
records may include a whole range of data in comprehensive or summary form, including
test results, radiology images, vital signs, personal stats like age and weight, and billing
information. Its purpose can be understood as a complete record of patient encounters that allows
the automation and streamlining of the workflow in health care settings and increases safety
Swinglehurst D (2009).The terms EHR, EPR and EMR (electronic medical record) are often
used interchangeably, although a difference between them can be defined. The EMR can be
defined as the legal patient record created in hospitals and ambulatory environments that is the
data source for the HER, Habib, (2010). It is important to note that an EHR is generated and
physician office, to give patients, physicians and other health care providers, employers, and
1
0
A personal health record is, in modern parlance, generally defined as an EHR that the
1
1
research in the field, Prof. Trish Greenhalgh and colleagues defined a number of different
philosophical approaches to the HER, Berg (1997). The health information systems
literature has seen the EHR as a container holding information about the patient, and a tool
for aggregating clinical data for secondary uses (billing, audit etc.). However, other research
traditions seen the EHR as a contextualized artefact within a socio-technical system. For example,
actor network would see the EHR as an actant in a, while research in computer supported
cooperative work (CSCW) sees the EHR as a tool supporting particular work. Prof. Barry
Robson and OK Baek also reviewed these aspects and see the EHR as pivotal in human
history, Baek, OK. (2009). In the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, the concept of a
national centralized server model of healthcare data has been poorly received. Issues of privacy
and security in such a model have been of concern. Privacy concerns in healthcare apply to both
paper and electronic records. According to the Los Angeles Times, roughly 150 people (from
doctors and nurses to technicians and billing clerks) have access to at least part of a
patient's records during a hospitalization, and 600,000 payers, providers and other entities that
handle providers' billing data have some access also Health & Medicine (2006-06-26).
Recent revelations of "secure" data breaches at centralized data repositories, in banking and other
financial institutions, in the retail industry, and from government databases, have caused concern
about storing electronic medical records in a central location, CNN.com (May 23, 2006). Records
that are exchanged over the Internet are subject to the same security concerns as any other type of
data transaction over the Internet. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) was passed in the US in 1996 to establish rules for access, authentications, storage
and auditing, and transmittal of electronic medical records. This standard made restrictions for
electronic records more stringent than those for paper records. However, there are concerns as
In the European Union (EU), several Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council
protect the processing and free movement of personal data, including for purposes of health care,
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was given Royal
Assent in Canada on April 13, 2000 to establish rules on the use, disclosure and collection of
personal information. The personal information includes both non-digital and electronic form.
In 2002, PIPEDA extended to the health sector in Stage 2 of the law's implementation. There
are four provinces where this law does not apply because its privacy law was considered similar
to PIPEDA: Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. One major issue that has risen on the
privacy of the U.S. network for electronic health records is the strategy to secure the privacy of
patients. Former US president Bush called for the creation of networks, but federal investigators
report that there is no clear strategy to protect the privacy of patients as the promotions of the
electronic medical records expands throughout the United States. In 2007, the Government
Accountability Office reports that there is a “jumble of studies and vague policy statements but no
overall strategy to ensure that privacy protections would be built into computer networks linking
insurers, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.” Robert, (2007)
The privacy threat posed by the interoperability of a national network is a key concern. One of the
most vocal critics of EMRs, New York University Professor Jacob M. Appel, has claimed that
the number of people who will need to have access to such a truly interoperable national
11
system, which he estimates to be 12 million, will inevitably lead to breaches of privacy on a
massive scale. Appel has written that while "hospitals keep careful tabs on who accesses the
charts of VIP
12
patients," they are powerless to act against "a meddlesome pharmacist in Alaska" who "looks
up the urine toxicology on his daughter's fiancé in Florida, to check if the fellow has a cocaine
habit. “Appel (2008). This is a significant barrier for the adoption of an EHR. Accountability
among all the parties that are involved in the processing of electronic transactions including
the patient, physician office staff, and insurance companies, is the key to successful
advancement of the EHR in the U.S. Supporters of EHRs have argued that there needs to be a
fundamental shift in “Attitudes, awareness, habits, and capabilities in the areas of privacy and
security”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the DHHS takes no action on complaints under
HIPAA, and medical records are disclosed under court orders in legal actions such as claims
arising from automobile accidents. HIPAA has special restrictions on psychotherapy records,
but psychotherapy records can also be disclosed without the client's knowledge or permission,
according to the Journal. For example, Patricia Galvin, a lawyer in San Francisco, saw a
& Clinics after her fiancé committed suicide. Her therapist had assured her that her records would
be confidential. But after she applied for disability benefits, Stanford gave the insurer her
therapy notes, and the insurer denied her benefits based on what Galvin claims was a
misinterpretation of the notes. Stanford had merged her notes with her general medical
record, and the general medical record wasn't covered by HIPAA restrictions. Within the
private sector, many companies are moving forward in the development, establishment and
implementation of medical record banks and health information exchange. By law, companies
13
are required to follow all HIPAA standards and adopt the same information-handling practices
that have been in effect for the federal government for years. This includes two ideas,
14
security and privacy practices among the private sector, Nulan C (2001). Private companies have
promised to have “stringent privacy policies and procedures.” If protection and security are not
part of the systems developed, people will not trust the technology nor will they participate in it,
Robert (2007). So, the private sectors know the importance of privacy and the security of the
systems and continue to advance well ahead of the federal government with electronic health
records.
Legal liability in all aspects of healthcare was an increasing problem in the 1990s and 2000s. The
surge in the per capita number of attorney sand changes in the tort system caused an increase in
the cost of every aspect of healthcare, and healthcare technology was no exception.
Failure or damages caused during installation or utilization of an EHR system has been feared as
a threat in lawsuits. Similarly, it's important to recognize that the implementation of electronic
This liability concern was of special concern for small EHR system makers. Some smaller
companies may be forced to abandon markets based on the regional liability climate.[40]
Larger EHR providers (or government-sponsored providers of EHRs) are better able to
versions of the hospital's software to local healthcare providers. A challenge to this practice has
been raised as being a violation of Stark rules that prohibit hospitals from preferentially assisting
15
community healthcare providers, Dunlop (2007). In 2006, however, exceptions to the Stark
rule were enacted to allow hospitals to furnish software and training to community providers,
mostly removing this legal obstacle. An important consideration in the process of developing
16
storage of these records. The field will need to come to consensus on the length of time to store
EHRs, methods to ensure the future accessibility and compatibility of archived data with yet-to-
be developed retrieval systems, and how to ensure the physical and virtual security of the
archives.
complicated by the possibility that the records might one day be used longitudinally and
integrated across sites of care. Records have the potential to be created, used, edited, and viewed
by multiple independent entities. These entities include, but are not limited to, primary care
physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and patients. Mandl et al. have noted that “choices
about the structure and ownership of these records will have profound impact on the accessibility
The required length of storage of an individual electronic health record will depend on national
and state regulations, which are subject to change over time. Ruotsalainen and Manning have
found that the typical preservation time of patient data varies between 20 and 100 years. In
one example of how an EHR archive might function, their research "describes a co-operative
trusted notary archive (TNA) which receives health data from different EHR-systems, stores data
together with associated meta-information for long periods and distributes EHR data
objects. TNA can store objects in XML-format and prove the integrity of stored data with
the help of event records, timestamps and archive e-signatures.", Manning B (2007).
14
In addition to the TNA archive described by Ruotsalainen and Manning, other combinations of
EHR systems and archive systems are possible. Again, overall requirements for the design and
15
must function under ethical and legal principles specific to the time and place .
While it is currently unknown precisely how long EHRs will be preserved, it is certain that length
of time will exceed the average shelf-life of paper records. The evolution of technology is such
that the programs and systems used to input information will likely not be available to a user who
desires to examine archived data. One proposed solution to the challenge of long-term
accessibility and usability of data by future systems is to standardize information fields in a time
invariant way, such as with XML language. Olhede and Peterson report that “the basic XML-
format has undergone preliminary testing in Europe by a Spri project and been found suitable for
EU purposes. Spri has advised the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the
Swedish National Archive to issue directives concerning the use of XML as the archive-format
PAPERBASED RECORD
16
An electronic medical record (EMR) is a computerized medical record created in an
organization that delivers care, such as a hospital and doctor's surgery, Perlin JB (2006).
Electronic medical records tend to be a part of a local stand-alone health information system that
Paper based records are still by far the preferred method of recording patient information for most
hospitals and practices in the U.S. New England Journal of Medicine, (March 25, 2009). The
majority of doctors still find their ease of data entry and low cost hard to part with. However, as
easy as they are for the doctor to record medical data at the point of care, they require a
significant amount of
17
storage space compared to digital records. In the US, most states require physical records be
held for a minimum of seven years. The costs of storage media, such as paper and film, per unit
of information differ dramatically from that of electronic storage media. When paper records
are stored in different locations, collating them to a single location for review by a health care
provider is time consuming and complicated, whereas the process can be simplified with
electronic records. This is particularly true in the case of person-centered records, which are
paper- based records are required in multiple locations, copying, faxing, and transporting costs
are significant compared to duplication and transfer of digital records. Because of these
many "after entry" benefits, federal and state governments, insurance companies and other
large medical institutions are heavily promoting the adoption of electronic medical records.
Congress included a formula of both incentives (up to $44K per physician under Medicare
or up to $65K over 6 years, under Medicaid) and penalties (i.e. decreased Medicare/Medicaid
reimbursements for covered patients to doctors who fail to use EMR's by 2015) for
EMR/EHR adoption versus continued use of paper records as part of the American Recovery
One study estimates electronic medical records improve overall efficiency by 6% per year, and
the monthly cost of an EMR may (depending on the cost of the EMR) be offset by the cost of
only a few "unnecessary" tests or admissions, Perlin JB (2006). Jerome Groopman disputed these
results, publicly asking "how such dramatic claims of cost-saving and quality improvement could
medical records may also increase the ease with which they can be accessed and stolen by
included in the Health Information and Accessibility Act and by recent large-scale breaches
in confidential records reported by EMR users, Institute of Medicine (1999). Concerns about
security contribute to the resistance shown to their widespread adoption. Handwritten paper
medical records can be associated with poor legibility, which can contribute to medical errors.
Pre-printed forms, the standardization of abbreviations, and standards for penmanship were
encouraged to improve reliability of paper medical records. Electronic records help with the
forms facilitates the collection of data for epidemiology and clinical studies. In contrast, EMRs
can be continuously updated (within certain legal limitations). The ability to exchange records
healthcare delivery in non- affiliated healthcare facilities. In addition, data from an electronic
system can be used anonymously for statistical reporting in matters such as quality improvement,
resource management and public health communicable disease surveillance, Judy (2006).
19
Health informatics (also called health care informatics, healthcare informatics, medical
information science, computer science, and health care. It deals with the resources, devices,
20
storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatics tools
include not only computers but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and
information and communication systems. It is applied to the areas of nursing, clinical care,
dentistry, pharmacy, public health, occupational therapy, and (bio) medical research.
Informatics was a central part of the Nazi health care system, which included Nazi eugenics as
one of its fundamental principles. New systems and technology, like electronic punch card
tabulating and sorting machines, and the science of medical statistics, were used to gather,
sort, and analyse personal information on a vast scale unseen before in human history. The
information was used to help find and eliminate the 'genetically inferior' through sterilization or
wholesale murder. Many of the architects of these systems would go on to play a role in
medicine began in the early 1950s with the rise of the computers. In 1949, Gustav Wager
established the first professional organization for informatics in Germany. The prehistory,
history, and future of medical information and health information technology are discussed in
during the 1960s in France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. Medical informatics
research units began to appear during the 1970s in Poland and in the U.S. Since then the
development of high quality health informatics research, education and infrastructure has been
the goal of the U.S. and the European Union. Early names for health informatics included
data processing, medical automatic data processing, medical information processing, medical
21
The health informatics community is still growing, it is by no means a mature profession, but
work in the UK by the voluntary registration body, the UK Council of Health Informatics
Professions has suggested eight key constituencies within the domain information project
management, ICT, education and research, clinical informatics, health records(service and
professionals in and for the NHS, in academia and commercial service and solution providers.
Since the 1970s the most prominent international coordinating body has been the
Even though the idea of using computers in medicine sprouted as technology advanced in the
early twentieth century, it was not until the 1950s that informatics made a realistic impact in the
United States.
The earliest use of computation for medicine was for dental projects in the 1950s at the United
States National Bureau of Standards by Robert Ledley, Ledley RS (2006).The next step in
the mid-1950s were the development of expert systems such as MYCIN and Internist-I. In
1965, the National Library of Medicine started to use MEDLINE and MEDLARS. At this
time, Neil Pappalardo, Curtis Marble, and Robert Greenes developed MUMPS (Massachusetts
Science, Reilly (2003), at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Reilly (2003). In the
22
1970s and 1980s it was the most commonly used programming language for clinical
applications. The MUMPS operating system was used to support MUMPS language
specifications. As of 2004, a descendent of this system is being used in the United States
Veterans Affairs hospital system. The VA has the largest enterprise-wide health information
23
record, known as the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA).
A graphical user interface known as the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) allows
health care providers to review and update a patient’s electronic medical record at any of the
In the 1970s a growing number of commercial vendors began to market practice management
and electronic medical records systems. Although many products exist, only a small
number of health practitioners use fully featured electronic health care records systems.
Homer R. Warner, one of the fathers of medical informatics, Gardner RM (1999), founded
the Department of Medical Informatics at the University of Utah in 1968. The American
Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) has an award named after him on application of
informatics to medicine. Since 1997, the Buenos Aires Biomedical Informatics Group, a
nonprofit group, represents the interests of a broad range of clinical and non-clinical
professionals working within the Health Informatics sphere. Its purposes are:
Promote the implementation of the computer tool in the healthcare activity, scientific
Support, promote and disseminate content related activities with the management of health
informatics.
24
Promote cooperation and exchange of actions generated in the field of biomedical
informatics, both in the public and private, national and international level.
25
Interact with all scientists, recognized academic stimulating the creation of new
instances that have the same goal and be inspired by the same purpose.
To promote, organize, sponsor and participate in events and activities for training in computer
and information and disseminating developments in this area that might be useful for team
The Argentinian health system is very heterogeneous, because of that the informatics
developments shows a heterogeneous stage. Lot of private Health Care center have developed
systems, as the German Hospital of Buenos Aires who was one of the first in develop the
electronic health records system. The first applications of computers to medicine and
1968, with the installation of the first mainframes in public university hospitals, and the use
the IBM 1130 were installed in several universities, and the first applications were developed
for them, such as the hospital census in the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto and patient
master files, in the Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo, respectively at the cities
of Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo campi of the University of São Paulo. In the 1970s, several
Digital Corporation and Hewlett Packard minicomputers were acquired for public and Armed
Forces hospitals, and more intensively used for intensive-care unit, cardiology
26
1980s, with the arrival of cheaper microcomputers, a great upsurge of computer applications in
health ensued, and in 1986 the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics was founded, the first
Brazilian Congress of Health Informatics was held, and the first Brazilian Journal of Health
27
provinces creating different systems. A national, federally-funded, not-for-profit organization
called Canada Health Info way was created in 2001 to foster the development and adoption of
electronic health records across Canada. As of December 31, 2008 there were 276 EHR projects
under way in Canadian hospitals, other health-care facilities, pharmacies and laboratories, with
September 2008. It has been plagued by delays and its CEO was fired over a
Alberta Netcare was created in 2003 by the Government of Alberta. Today the
immunizations, laboratory test results, diagnostic imaging reports, the diabetes registry
and other medical reports. netCARE interface capabilities are being included in
electronic medical record products which are being funded by the provincial government.
In 2004 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) formed the Office of the
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). The mission of this office
28
is widespread adoption of interoperable electronic health records (EHRs) in the US within 10
years. See quality improvement organizations for more information on federal initiatives in this
area.
29
and Human Services to develop a set of standards for electronic health records
(EHR) and supporting networks, and certify vendors who meet them. In July, 2006
CCHIT released its first list of 22 certified ambulatory EHR products, in two different
announcements.
For more details on this topic, see European Federation for Medical Informatics.
The European Union's Member States are committed to sharing their best practices and
experiences to create a European eHealth Area, thereby improving access to and quality
health care at the same time as stimulating growth in a promising new industrial sector. The
European eHealth Action Plan plays a fundamental role in the European Union's strategy.
Work on this initiative involves a collaborative approach among several parts of the
Commission services. The European Institute for Health Records is involved in the promotion
The NHS in England has contracted out to several vendors for a national health informatics
system 'NPFIT' that originally divided the country into five regions and is to be united by a
central electronic medical record system nicknamed "the spine". The project, in 2010, is
seriously behind schedule and its scope and design are being revised in real time. In 2010 a wide
consultation was launched as part of a wider „Liberating the NHS‟ plan. Many organizations and
bodies (look on their own websites, as most have made their responses public in detail for
30
information) responded to the consultation and a new strategy is expected in the second quarter
of 2011. The degree of computerization in NHS secondary care was quite high before NPfIT
and that programmed has had the unfortunate effect of largely stalling further development
of the installed base. Almost all general practices in England and Wales are computerized
31
computerized primary care clinical records. Computerizations are the responsibility of
between primary and secondary care systems is rather primitive. A focus on interworking (for
interfacing and integration) standards is hoped will stimulate synergy between primary
and secondary care in sharing necessary information to support the care of individuals.
Scotland has an approach to central connection under way which is more advanced than the
English one in some ways. Scotland has the GPASS system whose source code is owned by
the State, and controlled and developed by NHS Scotland. GPASS was accepted in 1984. It
has been provided free to all GPs in Scotland but has developed poorly. [citation needed]
Discussion of open sourcing it as a remedy is occurring. The broad history of health informatics
has been captured in the book UK Health Computing: Recollections and reflections,
Hayes G, Barnett D (Eds.), BCS (May 2008) by those active in the field, predominantly
members of BCS Health and its constituent groups. The book describes the path taken as
early -1950s it was prompted by those involved in NHS finance and only in the early
1960s did solutions including those in pathology (1960), radiotherapy (1962), immunization
(1963), and primary care (1968) emerge. Many of these solutions, even in the early
1970s were developed in-house by pioneers in the field to meet their own requirements. In part
this was due to some areas of health services (for example the immunization and vaccination
of children) still being provided by Local Authorities. Interesting, this is a situation which
the coalition government propose broadly to return to in the 2010 strategy Equity and
"We will put patients at the heart of the NHS, through an information revolution
32
and greater choice and control‟ with shared decision-making becoming the norm:
„no decision about me without me‟ and patients having access to the information they want, to
make choices about their care. They will have increased control over their own care records."
informaticians to come out of the back-office and take up a front-line role supporting
clinical practice, and the business of care delivery. The UK health informatics community
has long played a key role in international activity, joining TC4 of the International
Federation of Information Processing (1969) which became IMIA (1979). Under the aegis of
BCS Health, Cambridge was the host for the first EFMI Medical Informatics Europe (1974)
conference and London was the location for IMIA‟s tenth global congress (MEDINFO2001). In
2002, the idea of a profession of health informatics across the UK was first mooted and by
2004 a voluntary open register was established. The UK Council for Health Informatics
Professions (UKCHIP) now has a formal Code of Professional Conduct, standards for
expressing competences which are used for entry, confirmation of fitness to practice, re-
academia and the commercial service and solution providers. In 2011, self-assessment tools
were introduced for use by any interested party. In addition, the principles and UKCHIP
model are being considered internationally (as at 2011). UKCHIP certification is being
considered for regulatory purposes. In conjunction with workforce development tools such as
33
the NHS HI Career Framework it is possible for individuals to compare their skills against
typical job roles, determine their professional level, and for employers to
34
carry out detailed workforce analysis to meet the emerging requirements of the informatics
currently pursued pilot projects, is for Free/Libre and Open-Source Software (FLOSS) for
healthcare.
35
CHAPTER THREE
36
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
During the research work, data collection was carried out in many places. In gathering
37
analysis, two major fact-finding techniques were used in this work and they are:
Primary Source
Primary source refers to the sources of collecting original data in which the researcher made use
Secondary Source
The need for the secondary sources of data for this kind of project cannot be over emphasized.
The secondary data were obtained by the researcher from magazines, Journal, Newspapers,
Library source
38
3.2 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
This was done between the researcher and the doctors in the hospital used for the studies, and the
lab attendance was interviewed. Reliable facts were got based on the questions posed to the staff
by the researcher.
39
3.2.2 Study of Manuals
Manuals and report based used by lab attendance were studied and a lot of information
Some forms that are necessary and available were assed. These include admission card, lab
form, test result, bill card Etc. These forms help in the design of the new system.
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System analysis is a structure process of collecting and analysing facts in respect of existing
operations procedures and system in order to obtain a full appreciation of the situation prevailing
so that an effective computerized system may be designed and implemented when proved
R.J. “system analysis is defined as the method of determining how best to use computer with
other resources to perform tasks which meet the information needs of an establishment. Before
moving into the major system design building blocks of this new system we need to analyse the
The existing system of medical system and drug prescription in Christ the King Hospital Enugu
involves manual activities. It has been observed that to receive medical treatment in most of
our hospitals the Patients queue according for several hours in the sequence of first come first
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registers into the hospital by filling patients form which signifies that the person is an official
patient of that hospital. Also, this gives the person access to own a hospital folder. Which is
used to store the basic information about the diagnosis and drug prescribed to the patient.
In other hand, if it is an old patient, the staff retrieved his hospital folder using the patient’s form
which the doctor have a look at first, before examining the patient and carry out the appropriate
therapy which is either he referred the patient to laboratory unit for lab test (if the need be) or to
the pharmacy unit to obtain the prescribed drugs (if the matter is not too complex). But any
treatment offered to the patient by the doctor must be recorded on the patients folder to avoid
inappropriate therapy. Though, it sounds so easy but it has some stumbling blocks.
The input to the new system is derived from the patient’s card. When a patient visits the
hospital, he/she fills the patients form from where a card is issued to the patient. This forms the
input to the new system designed. The information required for entry into the system includes:
1. Patients Name
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2. Sex
3. Address
4. Age
5. Disease Symptoms
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6. Date visited
Based on the information collected from the patient, an analysis is carried out. The symptoms are
processed to obtain the accurate diagnosis of the sickness. Also the diagnosis will help in the
processing of the system to obtain the best emergency health care system to be administered to
the patient.
The output is derived from the processing carried out on the input data. The output is presented in
form of reports on a patient’s diagnosis and possible treatment to the ailment. The reports are
displayed on the screen and can also be printed out as a hard copy.
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3.7 WEAKNESS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM
Lack of Accuracy: This situation crates problem in the sense that proper and adequate
medical attention is far-fetched. Due to doctors usually hurries over their duties in order to attend
to all the patient present in the hospital and along the line they may became exhausted, and the
In addition, the diagnosis, and prescription depends on the doctor’s memory so their brain
are often loaded with different diseases, symptoms and various drugs for treatment, hence, to
remember and process the hug information is his clinical work is very tasking. For this reason
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be obtained.
Lack of speed of operations and effectiveness: It has been observed that to receive medical
treatment in most of our hospitals, The patients queue up for several hours from one units
of the hospital to another, Normally, the medical records system is based on the traditional file
keeping system. Although, many patients are attended to with the method of information
recording or retrieving an old file but above all, t wastes time. And at times many patients are as
spillover. Moreover, the problem of redundancy may occur due to human brain is too
complex and may not perform and may not perform effectively especially when new folders
The new system among other things will have the following characteristics which will
1. The new system designed will help the management to use computer system to find
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2. Accuracy is maintained, as the computer information will yield an accurate result.
3. There will not be much congestion in hospitals, as the medical system developed
manual method.
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CHAPTER FOUR
YSTEM DESIGN
The output form is designed to generate printable reports from the database. The output is placed
on a database grid and contains information on patient’s records. The output produced can be
printed on a hard copy or viewed on the screen. The output generated includes:
1. Patients File
2. Bill Record
3. Treatment Record.
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4.2 INPUT SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN
The input to the new system is the patient’s admission form, which is entered
through the keyboard. The input form design takes the format bellow.
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35
4.3 FILE DESIGN
In any good database design, effort should be made to remove completely or at worst reduce
redundancy. The database design in the software is achieved using Microsoft access database.
Patients Name 20
Text
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System Flowchart
Input -
patient
Data
File
Input
From the
2 Proce
Contrl
Uni
Disk
Output
Storage
(Report )
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4.5 Procedure Chart
Main Menu
List of Admitted
Patients
Admission
Patients
Record
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Bill
Patients Bill
Payment Information
Treatment
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Start
Main Menu
Patients
Query
1. Report
Exit
2.
3.
4.
Yes
No
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Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Option 4 ?
Yes
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Stop
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4.7 Choice of Programming Language
The new system is implemented using HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Xamp. This is because the
programming language has the advantage of easy development. Flexibility and it has the ability
of providing the developer/programmer with possible hints and it produces a graphical user
interface.
Computer system is made up of units that are put together to the work as one to achieve a
common goal. There are two parts of the computer system, namely.
The Hardware
The Software
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Hardware Requirement
The program for this project is written in Visual Basic Programming Language.
6.0. it is designed to run on an IBM personal computer. The following minimum hardware
specification is needed
16 MB RAM
24 x CD ROM Drive
Printer
Software Requirement
Microsoft Access 97
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42
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 SUMMARY
Without the use of computerized system for medical system, I wonder what will be the stand of
our economy today. Since, the implementation of this system does more good than harm in
our country especially health sector. Hence not only does it provide good health with the help of
the following factors, accuracy, flexibility, and speedy treatment. But also it will be a big relief
This project is well designed with reliability and efficiency as our mainstay, have come just in
time to correct those weaknesses and anomalies, which exist in the existing manual method.
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5.2 PROBLEM ENCOUNTED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
During the process of the project I was faced with a lot of physical problems.
I was seriously faced with the problem of data collection, which helps in building the manuscript.
Because information they said is the tool of business so without solid data collection or material
one finds it difficult to present a meaningful report. So, inability to get materials on time really
set my project back. Actually, it took me more than five months to gather enough information
Also for collection of data from my case study a lot of money is spent on transportation.
Finally, the major limitations of this study were time, financial constraints and poor response by
some medical doctors fearing that computers may take over the practice of medicine which
in advance, they may lose their jobs. For this reason the researcher is recommending
compulsory information technology training for all the medical practitioners to enable them cope
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5.3 CONCLUSION
implementation of a patient billing software for a hospital will be a big relief for medical doctors
and nurses when operational. The system can be a tremendous help to hospital management.
It will also serve as a tool for quick operational decision making of the patient, thus enabling
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problem more quickly and more accurately than human being. Thus, the overall effect of the
use of computer in medical system is that patients acquire competence, accuracy, and
effectiveness within the shortest time in their operations and can break into new ground with
certainty.
47
48
REFRENCES
Arizona, R., (2011): Electronic Health Records, about $500 Million at stake in digital move.
Habib, J.L,. (2010). EHRs, meaningful use, and a model EMR. Drug Benefit
Hoffman, S., & Podgurski, A. (2008). "Finding a Cure; The Case for Regulation and
& Technology
49
Robson, B., Baek, K. (2009). The Engines of Hippocrates. From the Dawn of Medicine to
Starmer. K., Bratan, T., Byrne, E., Russell, J., & Potts, H.W.W. (2010).Adoption and non-
50
John Wiley & Sons.
of
Wong, G., Bark, P., & Swinglehurst, D. (2009). “Tensions and paradoxes in electronic patient
record research”. A systematic literature review using the meta-narrative method. Milbank
51
APPENDIX
PROGRAM SOURCE
CODE
System.Collections.Generic; using
System.Linq; using
System.Windows.Forms; using
Program; namespace
class KlinicBook{
// {XML Documentaion}
/// <summary>
52
/// </summary>
53
[STAThread]
//COMPILATION UNIT
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
//Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(kbook);
54
/**
55
*/
///<remark>
///</remark>
System.Collections.Generic; using
System.Drawing.Printing; using
System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis; using
System.ComponentModel; using
System.Drawing; using
System.Drawing.Drawing2D; using
System.Windows; using
System.Windows.Input; using
using
56
System.Globalization; using
System.Windows.Forms; using
Helpers; namespace
Program{
///<summary>
/// This class is called by KlinicBook's {Main method} which is the class that conatins
/// the compilation unit for this application software. All initialisation is synchronous
/* MENUBAR */ private
MenuStrip kb_menu;
/* MENUS */
57
/* MENU ITEMS */
/* MAIN CONTROLS */
58
private Panel kb_panel; private
kb_strp; private
System.Windows.Forms.Timer
kb_timer; private
ToolStripStatusLabel kb_stlbl;
private ToolStripProgressBar
kb_tbpg2 = null;
59
/* COMPONENT FORMS */
FormPntHistory frmphis;
GroupBox
60
kb_grbx = new GroupBox();
/// <summary>
/// </summary>
/// <return>void</return>
//PUBLIC CONSTRUCTOR
61
public AppInit()
{ InitComponents();
this.Dispose();
// CLASS METHODS
/**
62
*/ private void kb_FormLoad(object o,
content =
FileManager.ReadStringFromFile(@"lib\config.rtc");
if (!content.Contains("Database-Name:")){
011E7i;","Database-
Name:hospital;","DatabasePath:Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data
Source="+frmset.getPath()+";","DatabaseEncode:"+frmset.getEncoding()+";"," Database-
63
Server:"+frmset.getServer()+";","Database-
Type:"+frmset.getType()+";","\n","{Network Server}"};
FileManager.WriteStringToFile(@"lib\config.rtc","a",confige);
64
if(ret1 == DialogResult.OK){
break;
default: break;
// parse the file and retrieve the database connection string string conn =
if(ret2 == DialogResult.OK){
65
// write details of currently logged user to [users.rtc] and maintain state using
this file.
///<summary>
///</summary>
66
kb_menu = new MenuStrip(); // MENUBAR
//============================================//
//===========================================//
67
//===============================================// kb_summaries =
//==============================================//
68
//=============================================//
//==============================================//
====================//
file.Text = "&File";
System.Drawing.ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft; sub_file1.TextAlign =
70
55