A Clinical Database as a Multi-disciplinary Instructional Tool / General Medicine

ABSTRACT

The use of clinical databases is becoming increasingly common. We introduce a real-time clinical database named SINAP (Stroke Improvement National Audit Programme) which was originally deployed as a research database. We addressed its educational application in a hospital.<br>We visited a leading stroke ward in the UK, which had a hyper acute stroke facility, and investigated the current operation and application of the SINAP database. The ward contained a hyper acute stroke unit with 12 beds and a 20-bed stroke unit. About 400 patients were treated in three months (January-March, 2011). The SINAP database was used not only for research reports but also for conferences concerning patient management, and it facilitated learning by clinical staff at the hospital.<br>Databases which record clinical data relevant to performance and quality are an effective tool for improving the quality of treatment and care, as well as for training staff in clinical practice. Considering the wide-spread use of information technologies in primary care, such utilization of clinical data seems appropriate and effective to improve the quality of practice.