Data modeling and design of a patient data management system in an intensive care unit

A patient data management system (PDMS) is being developed for use in intensive care units of the Montreal Children's Hospital. The PDMS has a diversity of applications that handle various types of data. The numerous functionalities and management of different data types present the following design requirements: abstract definition of data types; unified view of data during the development phase; distinct levels of data management; and minimum coupling of the system's modules and higher degree of system flexibility. The authors outline the current database design and some aspects of its implementation using OS/2 Extended Edition. The multilevel data storage management is expected to solve the problem of storing the large volume of data and preserving the real-time response of the system.< >