DIABCARD CCMIS-a portable and scalable CPR for diabetes care

The aim of this paper is to introduce the main software module of the DIABCARD Chip Card Medical Information System (DIABCARD CCMIS) that provides an online, portable diabetes medical record information system based on a high performance object-oriented rapid application development language such as Borland Delphi. A chip card based medical information system was developed as a good possibility to create a portable electronic patient record. In particular the patient data card makes the up-to-date patient's record available whenever needed. The developed DIABCARD Core System, described in this paper, includes a patient record management system that has the ability to handle topics such as administrative and medical data, medical anamnesis, and physical examination data. Issues tackled were simplicity, data security and reporting, customization, and internationalization. Especially for the two last issues (customization and internationalization) a novel approach based on using native initialization table files is presented. Proper care has been addressed during the development of the software modules for matters of security, data integrity and confidentiality.

I. Introduction

Effective patient treatment requires the healthcare personnel to know the patient's medical history. Patients may be put at risk if additional treatment is unknown. So, the patient's information should be accurate and as complete as possible. A computer-based patient record (CPR) can provide this kind of information. The use of a smart card for storing part of the CPR renders this information available when and where it is needed even if the patient is far away from the base clinic that he or she was initially registered.