Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Masters of Science (Research)

Department

Cork Institute of Technology

First Advisor

Dr. Paul Walsh

Second Advisor

Prof. Dr. Klaus Wente

Abstract

The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is a central element of practice systems used in ophthalmology. It acts as a repository for multi-media patient care data as well as billing information, serving healthcare providers and ultimately their patients. The aim of this thesis is to create both a data structure and a flexible on-screen representation of an EPR for an ophthalmology practice, and to provide an XML-based experimental prototype as a “proof of concept” which could ultimately be used as an replacement for an existing DOS- based solution. The medical background and requirements for this system will be described. The state-of-the-art in EPRs, in particular XJVIL-based EPRs, and an existing legacy DOS-based application will be analysed as to how it addresses the data storage and presentation requirements of an EPR for ophthalmologists. An implementation with a relational database and a GUI-based user interface will be investigated, and the advantages and disadvantages reviewed. The promising features of markup languages such as the Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML) and the Extensible Markup Language (XML), together with related tools, will also be investigated, and their usability for an EPR assessed. Finally, a prototype will be implemented as a “proof of concept” and tested with real data.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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