Lab Assignment – Design Guidelines<br /> <br /> Instruction: Now that you have an EER model for your scenario, it is time to determine the best way to design such a system. Create a 2-3 page document containing what design strategy will best fit your scenario. Discuss possible pitfalls and things to consider that are specific to your scenario.<br /> <br /> This week reading:<br /> Design Strategies for HIT Databases<br /> <br /> When you design a database for use in a healthcare environment, there are unique challenges at various points in the design process. It is important to understand the overarching information system that will be based on the database. Considerations for how the data will be accessed, by whom, and where the data will be collected must all be taken into account.<br /> The understanding of who will input and retrieve information, the security level that is appropriate for each of these users, and when in the data process this will occur will allow your database to be set up in an intuitive and efficient manner that will meet the future needs of the user interface and reporting tools.<br /> Determining how broad the scenario for which the database will be designed (called the scope) will be is one of the most important factors for healthcare databases. Data is so interconnected within a healthcare environment, that it is often difficult to define system boundaries. Scope creep, or the gradual inclusion of more and more data into the system, is a critical issue to watch as a database is developed. Ensure that data will be complete, usable, necessary, and not holding data already existing on another system (called redundant data).<br /> Design in HIM must meet with very specific standards from external governmental sources, internal compliance, and in some cases external organizations such as corporate partners, client groups, or insurance companies. It is important to gather these requirements before the design process is underway, so that everyone understands what can and cannot be expected of the system and how it will function. This will not only assist in the design process, but also set up realistic expectations for the finished product.<br /> These various considerations can come together in two distinct ways based on what kinds of healthcare data we are dealing with. A top-down design will involve the identification of entities and move “down” to define the attributes of each entity. A bottom-up design will identify the attributes first and move “up” to group these attributes into entities. In many cases, both design strategies can be used at various points in the design process (for example, top-down being utilized during high-level design and bottom-up for use in reporting requirement planning).