1. Distributed medical databases

2. What is it?
A collection of patient information spread over two or more servers.

3. Advantages of distributed databases
Security can be improved as not all the data is held in one place
Speed of access improved as one server doesn’t have to deal with all the request for information from users

4. Back up and recovery Is downtime acceptable?
How much data needs to be backed up?
Where should data be stored?
How often?
When should data be backed up?

5. Ensuring the privacy of patient records.
Access levels
128 bit Encryption
Password
Audit trails

6. EPR – Electronic patient record

7. Old paper based
Many staff needed notes at the same time and had to photocopy in order to do this – very expensive
Huge number of paper-based records caused storage and retrieval problems
Handwritten notes written quickly and sometimes illegible
Patient records frequently went missing

8. New electronic method
Patient details available to view wherever there is a terminal
Only one set of data kept so its easier to ensure consistency
Security improved because the data can be protected using different permissions for different staff
Much easier to back up data