Monday, 28 October 2002 - 1:15 PM
16

This presentation is part of A6: Grow: Technical Challenges and Innovations — Part I

Design of an Electronic Tracking and Management System for Childhood Immunisation

Bernie Ó Cuilleanáin and Damon Berry. Centre for Health Informatics Trinity College Dublin Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland


KEYWORDS:
Immunisation Tracking EHCR Ireland

BACKGROUND:
The Irish government provides an immunisation programme free of charge to all children. There is no obligation on parents to immunise their children. there is no financial inducement or no legal or social requirement to have children vaccinated prior to starting school.
54,000 children require immunisation annually and need to be tracked through the system. At present the majority of recording is carried out manually. this is inefficient and prone to errors.

OBJECTIVE(S):
An IT-based system is proposed which uses a unique identifier assigned at birth in addition to bar-coding and scanning technology. The tracking of products through the healthcare system and their administration to children by clinicians is discussed.

METHOD(S):
The study has been undertaken in the context of a full understanding of the domain, standardisation issues, terminology and integration with the health system. Questionnaires and observational studies were carried out. User requirements were gathered and Domain Analysis and Design were defined using the Unified Modelling Language (UML).

RESULT(S):
User requirements were gathered and a Domain analysis defined using the Unified Modelling Language (UML).

CONCLUSIONS(S):
A major benefit of the system would be elimination of transcription errors. A consise record would be created which could be used for medico legal purposes, scientific studies, early detection of communities with low immunisation uptake and provision for tracking individual defaulters.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Methods for gathering User requirements
Benefits of using a Unified Modelling Language (Rational Rose) to model the system

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