EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Biomed Databases Who has moved from MS Access?

For those of you who used to use MS Access as a biomed database.... what have you moved on to? How does it compare?

Biff,

We are considering a move from MS Access to SQL. There are a few open source alternatives or more recently we have been looking at Softpros Medusa system. Seems quite impressive and not overly expensive. Hopefully there will be some discussion on this in thread #46290.

Martin

I'm currently using Access 2007 and I have been using it for development for the past 4 months. It works great, and I like how it's easy for me to add functionality. With the Report function, it's even easier for me to generate what I need with just a bit of design and effort.

If you already have MS Access in your PC, why not spend a bit of time and learning it? With the combination of forms and queries, pretty much everything can be done without much VB knowledge.

Guys,

There are far beter Databases that you can use for your Biomed Database...Some which are very popular stated below:

-MySQL
-PostgreSQL
-FirebirdSQL
-SQLite


There are many great open source Inventory Monitoring web based software that you can tweak to your needs. Also can add Barcode/RFID for asset tracking as well.

To make it more fancy you can add SMS messages, Pager and e-mail alert messages from user to the biomed dept.

Cheers
Tim

The ones you mention are all SQL.

What makes them "far better", I wonder?

Also, what's special about a "Biomed Database"? Fundamentally, it's just a database, like any other.

I would also challenge the implied assertion that "web-based" is best (and we have heard that a lot on here over the years).

What happens when (if) you can't access the web?

No need for "fancy" ... just having something reliable that actually does what you want is far more valuable, in my experience.

faster, reliable, expandable, has other features for analytics etc..plus stable and reliable..yes biomed database is just like any other db.

Come on Geoff dont tell me our dept does'nt have reliable network..:(

You can have client server based if you like with web. Just like having outlook at your office and then accessing your outlook over the web.

Web technology is the web to go..more flexibility....less cpu intensive on the stand alone system.. this is a proven technology.

Barcode and rfid is a proven technology..rfid is currently used at airports to track your baggage. SMS, e-mail, pager alerts are all proven and reliable technologies..we use it all the time to inform physicians for rad reports..why would it be any different for biomed dept..

You want to automate your workflow, to make it more efficient and less time consuming on manual paper work or input data.

Not everyone works in a hospital.

And not everyone is in the United States.

Hi Geoff this is marce, I used msaccess in my database. Can you recommend a stand alone program other access? I want to use slim yet organized database design to track pm schedule, discrepancies etc. thanks.

What's wrong with Access?

What platform are you using? Windows? Which one?

All I have is my own stuff. It's not so "slim" these days, but if you want to drop me an email* I would be happy enough to send it to you (9 Meg, or so).

Better still, if you have your data available in an .xls spreadsheet, if you email it to me that would speed up the process!

My email address is in my Profile.

i dont want to look like im getting the wrong idea but personly i think CMMS is critical for Clinical engineering department in any hospital and its not just a DATABASE. history traking, data analysis, PPM,....
beside i think Timsta is right is right regarding the notification methods; but i think SMS is too much; since it facilitate the work and reduce the time responce. anyway you wont feel the deference until you try.