Record Continuous Medications

[Scott_66701 via AccessMonster.com]

Hi, I'm trying to make a form with the following:

a textbox with the name of the medication
a textbox containing the dosage of the medication

I am trying to store home medications for each patient. How can I
continously add medications in a form and it stay in the same patient record.


I looked up demos of medical databases made with Access and the one example
that I really liked looked like a table inside a form, where the medications
continued down the table as they were entered so you could see what you
entered and what you didn't. Somehow all the meds ended up in one record for
that patient. If someone could explain to me how to do this, I would greatly
appreciate it. I need to document medications for several patients.

Also is there a way to bring up their medications for when they come back so
I can just edit them instead of typing them again.

 

[John W. Vinson]

Hi, I'm trying to make a form with the following:

a textbox with the name of the medication
a textbox containing the dosage of the medication

I am trying to store home medications for each patient. How can I
continously add medications in a form and it stay in the same patient record.


I looked up demos of medical databases made with Access and the one example
that I really liked looked like a table inside a form, where the medications
continued down the table as they were entered so you could see what you
entered and what you didn't. Somehow all the meds ended up in one record for
that patient. If someone could explain to me how to do this, I would greatly
appreciate it. I need to document medications for several patients.

Also is there a way to bring up their medications for when they come back so
I can just edit them instead of typing them again.

You need *three tables*: a table of Patients, a table of Medications, and a
table of MedsTaken.. This is a classic Many to Many relationship - Joe Schmoe
takes five meds every day, and a lot of your patients take (say) aspirin.

The three tables might be:

Patients
PatientID (Primary Key - an autonumber or better an assigned ID)
LastName
FirstName
<other demographic data>

Medications
MedID (Primary Key - use the industry standard medication code)
TradeName
GenericName
DoseUnit
DoseSize
DosageForm <e.g. tablet, oral suspension, ...>

MedsTaken
PatientID <who took it>
MedID <what did they take>
Quantity <how many pills, ml, etc.>
WhenTaken <date/time>
<other info about this dose>


If you're not familiar with the HIPAA laws concerning patient privacy,
database security requirements, informed consent to record information, etc. -
STUDY UP. Maybe you have $250,000 sitting around for the fines, and/or don't
mind a six month vacation in a Federal prison, but you should know what you're
getting into.

You should also learn a bit more than you apparently know about Access; here's
some resources:

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

Roger Carlson's tutorials, samples and tips:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/

A free tutorial written by Crystal:
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

A video how-to series by Crystal:
http://www.YouTube.com/user/LearnAccessByCrystal

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:03:18 -0600, John W. Vinson

Given the requirement: "Also is there a way to bring up their
medications for when they come back so I can just edit them instead of
typing them again." we should also have a table to record each
patient's normal regiment. Of course that can change from time to
time. The table structure would be similar to John's MedsTaken, and I
might call it MedsPrescribed.

This is not a project for a beginner.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[John W. Vinson]

This is not a project for a beginner.

Amen to that. I'm not a beginner, and I've done quite a few databases, and
I've turned down patient medical data projects. I'm not convinced that they
can be legally done in Access at all, at least not without a well secured
client-server backend.

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:44:34 -0600, John W. Vinson

We have always insisted that we work with client to make sure the app
is HIPAA compliant, and that we assume no responsibility for that
whatsoever. Typically client has HIPAA experts on staff that can play
that role.
The BE would be SQL Server. And one should have more than a modicum of
understanding of SQL Server security. In one case the sensitive stuff
was on a seperate server in the secure part of the data center.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Mike Painter]

If you read the original HIPPA requirements or any of the help file that
were on *government* websites you find that "reasonable care" is all that
was required.
All the additional layers were added by others at a later date.

Standing behind a line at a pharmacy with the computer screens turned away
is reasonable.
There is no reason why Access could not be used.