Analysis and Design Information System in Dentistry

Abstract

In Thailand the use of dental electronic data systems to maintain dental records is still limited. The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand regulation requires the practitioners to maintain accurate and complete documentation of all medical and dental treatment. For the purpose of licensing these records must be maintained for at least five years from the date of preparation. A robust dental record system can facilitate this requirement by ensuring that complete documentation and data processing. The research aims to improve these processes by applying information systems to address specific issues for dental information and was performed in two phases. This study was developed in accordance with the System Development Life Cycle - SDLC, using the following three steps. The goal of this study was to develop and design a clinical application to facilitate data management in dental clinical practice. The study involved the application of information technology to the process of gathering clinical dental information pertaining to patient history, dental treatment, follow-up and reporting in order to facilitate clinical practice. This prototype dental information system is to serve as an information technology model for wider clinical trials and implementation to support various clinical models. The users reported a general level of satisfaction with the new dental information system with average score 4.44 (very satisfied). The specific aspect that was more highly appraised was the ability to create clinical and administrative reports (average satisfaction score 4.70) whereas the area least scored was system flexibility in addressing user documentation needs (average score 4.20). The system can be developed additional connectivity and data linkage to radiology data systems (PACS), pathology databases or medical records databases for easier information importation and sharing.