IMPLEMENTING DATABASE MINING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF REPORTING SOLUTIONS FOR ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY DEPARTMENTS

摘要

Database mining is an invaluable tool used to extract information from an existing database for the purpose of reporting. Echocardiography departments use these reports to measure operational improvements, analyze patient measurements, and for accreditation data reporting requirements. This paper includes lessons learned from the delivery of a database reporting consulting service to over 25 echocardiography labs of hospitals, research companies, and clinics. The service focuses on developing reports to meet the business needs of the various departments using the Microsoft Access and Crystal Reports software tools. Labs that have implemented electronic patient reporting (digital labs) would be able to take benefit from these techniques. The key to the service delivery is understanding what unique data reporting needs each echocardiography department has and optimizing the database configuration to allow the extraction of the required data. The primary goal of the database reporting service is to allow echo labs to query their database and produce departmental management reports. By establishing a connection to the echo database and implementing standard database reporting software (like Crystal Reports or Microsoft Access) this is possible. Standard reports include procedure volumes by physician and sonographer, echo lab log, findings search, and measurement search. Other customized reports can be developed based on the business needs of the various echo departments. Measurement analysis, turnaround time analysis, and accreditation data reporting are a few examples of customized reporting solutions developed.