design db

[Guest]

I started building a db for laboratory Blood testing.

Main Purpose is to make labels for all tubes drawn for the patient and also
to track when certain tests were conducted. The social security number is
the primary key. There are about 8 tests that we test for. I made a screen
that has the patient’s name, SSN, date drawn along with all tests listed and
a check box next to each test.

When a patient comes to the lab, I want to be able to check off the
different tests required, then be able to print labels for the collection
tubes which will include the name, SSN, Date, test name, and along with the
test name, the type of collection tube needed.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I started building a db for laboratory Blood testing.

Main Purpose is to make labels for all tubes drawn for the patient and also
to track when certain tests were conducted. The social security number is
the primary key. There are about 8 tests that we test for. I made a screen
that has the patient’s name, SSN, date drawn along with all tests listed and
a check box next to each test.

When a patient comes to the lab, I want to be able to check off the
different tests required, then be able to print labels for the collection
tubes which will include the name, SSN, Date, test name, and along with the
test name, the type of collection tube needed.

I hope you're aware of the very stringent legal and technical HIPAA
requirements about patient personal information, such as SSN, patient name,
test results, etc.? I don't think prison sentences are typical, but very large
fines can certainly be leveled for violations. See
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/ for an overview.

That said... starting with Forms is like starting the building of a house with
the eaves and windowframes. Data is not stored in forms or in checkboxes. It's
stored in Tables; you need to *START* with a properly normalized set of
tables, and *then* start worrying about forms. See the tutorials at

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP):
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials

You may want to see if you can get a (HIPAA-compliant!!) commercial lab data
package or hire a professional if you want a legal and reliable database. If
you want to roll your own, read up about normalization (Crystal's tutorial
and/or the Database Design 101 links on Jeff's page) and come back; we'll try
to help.

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[Guest]

I would strongly advise AGAINST using SSN in any Access database. There are
serious privacy concerns in doing this. Each person should have a PIN
(Personal identification number) unrelated to their SSN. There should be
NOTHING in the database that can tie the medical information to any
individual i.e. No name, address, phone no, email, SSN etc. etc.

Dorian