Modification of a Management Information System Software Package to Process Drug Reaction Data
Robert V. Cuddihy, W. S. Ring, Nwabudike Augustine · Methods of Information in Medicine · 1971
Design and implementation of computer systems to process drag adverse reaction data usually require considerable investment in time, personnel and money. Modification of a commercially available program package offers a potentially economical means to establish an effective system in a relatively short period of time. Adaptation of this program package to our specific task involved only three major steps: (1) definition of the data to be stored; (2) definition of file organization, and (3) modification of the package to provide programming for field definition, an edit routine, and input/output routines. These steps were accomplished within a matter of weeks and at relatively low cost, including the original expenditure for the purchase of the commercial software. Seven subsystems were developed for the formation, maintenance and utilization of the data base. Each : subsystem is described in detail to permit ready application of this approach to any similar data management problem.