Creating a form desgn to capture newborn visits

[Mark M S]

This is a question about form design. I would like a suggestion on how to
construct one form or multiple forms that are linked to get the job done.



I was asked to build an application that would track newborn care exams and
I am using Access 2002 with 2002 formatting. I have tried to create a
combined form with many subforms but I am doubtful that using that design
idea really works when I need to capture data to make a report on the babies
seen that day.



I am not a programmer so writing much code is beyond my capabilities. I do
fine with queries and macros but don't write my own code in the modules (I
will borrow someone's calendar code for example.)



The simple table relationships follow:

PatientID is basic identifier information table like baby first and last
names, mother first and last names baby medical record and account numbers,
birth date and birth time, gestational age



VisitID are the elements of the visit about 20 from visit time, visit date,
vitals signs (height, weight, head circumference, respirations) and elements
of the exam from cardiac, pulmonary, nutrition, infections, medications etc



And a PatientVisitID that joins the first two (PatientID, VisitID,
PatientVisitID)



Doctors are used to handwriting one contiguous document and having many
forms popping up to complete each exam can be confusing and require lots of
Mouse activity. My first try (you are welcome to see the zipped file to
understand how I created the layout of the necessary fields
www.aapca1.org/office/nicunote0.zip) . All the information to be tracked is
there but completing the entry is a mess. Most of the sample templates I
have seen for other business applications don't seem to be an adequate
model.



I need to keep the basic information easily visible on the form so
comparisons can be seen and daily values can be compared. Then I need to
capture the daily note per patient for a report. There are probably some
obvious form principles that I am missing so any help is appreciated.


*************************************************
Mark M Simonian MD FAAP
Medical Director, ChildNet Medical Assoc.
681 Medical Center Drive West #106
Clovis, CA 93611
(559) 325-6850
www.markmsimonian.medem.com
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[Jeff Boyce]

Mark

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are new, more stringent
medical records regulations (e.g., HIPAA) governing what and how medical
records data can/must be stored and protected. I'll assume you have already
covered these in your design.

If one patient can have many visits, but a specific visit is only for a
single patient, you don't need the many-to-many resolver table in your
design. Unless I've missed something, it should suffice to have a Patient
table, and in your Visit table, include a PatientID (so you know who the
visit is with).

One way to approach the data entry/review would be to use a main
form/subform construction. The main form points to the Patient data, while
the subform lists the patient's visit data.

Because the actual data is stored in the tables, you will be able to query
that and create the reports you need.

If this doesn't give you a start, post back.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP