ClinicalViews: object-oriented views forclinical databases

ABSTRACTWepresenthereaprototype of aclinical information system for the archiving and the management ofmultimedia and temporally-oriented clinical datarelatedto PTCApatients. Thesystem is basedon an object-oriented DBMSandsupports multiple viewsand view schemas on patients' data. Remote dataaccess is supportedtoo.BACKGROUNDAccording to the complexity level ofthe consideredorganization, a DBMSmay have different groups ofusers, wishing to access stored information with a different perspectiveasfunction of theirroleandoftheperformedactivities. Views are software constructs allowing the design ofuser-oriented database systems. A view may be asubset ofthe database or it maycontain virtual datathat is derivedfromthe database but is not explicitlystored. Theuseofviewspermitsto profile user needsandto create a suitable organization ofpertinent dataand knowledge, to integrate data from differentdatabases, to define content-based authorizations, to simulate schemaevolution.DESIGNCONSIDERATIONSThe work has concerned the design and the