Implementation of a computerized nuclear cardiology database on the Veterans Administration FileMan system

The rapidly increasing volume of invasive and noninvasive cardiovascular procedures, complicated by inherent delays in the reporting and archiving of data, led to the development of the File-Man-based Nuclear Cardiology Database (NCD). FileMan is a hierarchical-relational database system, written in standard Mumps, which has been implemented for a variety of uses at several Veterans Administration sites. It uses open architecture and is a public-domain, vendor-independent fourth-generation language capable of managing large databases on personal computers, minicomputers, and mainframes. The authors describe the application of the FileMan to the NCD. The system is networked and maintains interactive databases capable of encompassing functions such as data entry, editing, formatting, and printing of test results and procedure reports. It also provides for data searches, data display, tabulation, calculations, and statistical analysis. System access, data entry, data definition, programming, and security can be independently controlled. The NCD is designed to be incorporated into the Cardiology Automation Program