Identify one relevant public health database for your organization and interpret a basic
analysis that pertains to one aspect of your organization’s work. Explain how the results
might inform the practices or policy of your organization.
Public Health Database
There are several types of public health databases. However, the one that is
commonly used in my organization is Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) database. One
aspect of our organization that requires the use of OLTP is the admission of the inpatients.
The OLTP database refers to the system where a single computer application usually runs on.
One example of the apps is the electronic health record (Cardon, 2014). Moreover, the OLTP
database’s primary strength is that it enables real-time and quick transactional processing. For
example, public health professionals can easily search for the patients’ names that need to be
visited for follow-up at the EHR.
The process of recruiting patients can be tedious as the healthcare professionals are
expected to keep records of the previous health facilities they were referred from and the
medication they were using. The public health database has replaced the tedious file folders,
paper documents, and filing cabinets (Cardon, 2014). Indeed, it is the long and tedious
process regarding keeping records of the patients that necessitated my organization to
implement the OLTP database with the primary objective of making the information retrieval
process efficient.
A thorough analysis of the public health engagements in my organization revealed
several lapses regarding capturing and retrieving patient information. The organization’s
public health professionals missed several patients’ visits due to missing files or time taken to
recover the manual records. The challenges experienced concerning accessing the patient
PUBLIC HEALTH DATABASE 2
information are what informed the policy on adopting the OLTP database. In a nutshell, the
OLTP adoption is meant to speed up patient information retrieval and ensure that healthcare
delivery to the patients is efficient.
Reference
Cardon, D. (2014). Healthcare Databases: Purpose, Strengths, Weaknesses. HealthCatalyst.