CASE STUDY Group Written Examination

Mini Case: The MedClinic Health Center is located in a small market town with a population of approximately 10,000. The Center provides general medical care plus limited support services such as a small operating theatre, a laboratory for specimen testing and a radiography unit for X-rays. Medical care is on a day care only basis there being no facilities for overnight hospitalisation. Longer stay medical care is provided at the regional hospital some 30 miles away. The Center is staffed by 10 doctors on a shift basis, who also provide emergency cover when the Center is closed on Sunday and during the night. The doctors are supported by four nurses. Administrative systems which include patient records, staff records, and substantial correspondence between doctors, patients and consultants are undertaken by two full time and four part-time secretaries. The Center operates an appointment system for patients seeking non-urgent treatment. The system is operated by 12 part-time receptionists working on a shift system. In addition, the Center employs a radiographer and three laboratory technicians. The laboratory technicians are also responsible for ordering, maintaining and issuing drugs from the stocks held at the Center. At present time the payroll, income receipts and expenditure payments procedures for the MedClinic center are undertaken on the mainframe system at the regional hospital computer Center. All MedClinic center administrative, text and record keeping procedures are operated manually. There is, however, a terminal link between the Center and the regional hospital which is used to input accounting transaction data, order drugs and transmit medical statistical data for national health monitoring. The MedClinic center and all medical Centers under the regional hospital will soon be responsible for their own financial affairs. The senior doctors at MedClinic see this as an opportunity to computerise not only the financial systems which will now be necessary but many of MedClinics administrative and record keeping procedures. The doctors are fully supported in this initiative by the nursing and administrative staff. The support staffs feel overwhelmed by the present volumes of paperwork but are very apprehensive at the prospect of taking responsibility for MedClinics financial and associated systems.

PART I. Describe what you believe would be the various problems currently experienced by MedClinic staff as a result of the reliance on the following systems: i) Administrative system ii) Drug control system iii) Accounting system iv) Reporting system

PART II. An initial investigation of other medical Centers similar to MedClinic has revealed that some have opted for a minicomputer supporting a series of terminals while others have adopted an information technology approach based on networked personal computers. Explain these two configurations and briefly discuss their suitability for MedClinics operations. PART III. Derive the Data Flow Diagram of the given case PART IV. Derive the Use-Case Diagram of the given case