Guideline on radiation protection in medicine requires documentation of radioiodine therapy and follow-up: What are the benefits of an electronic database?

Abstract

The lately updated German guideline on radiation protection in medicine (Richtlinie Strahlenschutz in der Medizin) requires the physician who administers radioactive substances for therapy, to perform and document follow-ups. In order to decrease the administrative burden, an electronic database was developed that interfaces with a word processing software to generate written reports and statistic analysis. Based on Microsoft Access and Microsoft Visual Basic a database was created to monitor patients with benign and malignant thyroid disorders after radioiodine therapy. It permits automatic creation of therapy documents and necessary patient reports in Microsoft Word. Intuitive handling, third level of normalization in database architecture and automatic plausibility checks guarantee integrity of the data and the efficacy of the database. The new software has been a success in over 1500 patients and over 3800 in- and outpatient therapies and visits. The effort of data entry is easily offset by the automatic generation of the necessary patient reports. The required supervision of the follow-up appointments is now also user-friendly and efficient.