Hospital Data Sources

This paper addresses the hospital as a site for pharmacoepidemiology studies, particularly with respect to the development and use of automated data. A brief history of efforts to develop automated data in this site will be presented, followed by an example of one data base, and, finally, descriptions of the types of studies which have been or could be carried out. The advantages and limitations of these studies and the resources will be outlined to point out needs for future development in this part of the discipline.