Issues in designing a student database.

Abstract

Many larger colleges of nursing have centralized student databases in which all elements of students' records are collated. The smaller department or college may leave the design of such databases to course leaders. This paper highlights stages and considerations in the development of student databases. It offers definitions of flat-file and relational databases; it identifies issues in prior planning and then of direct plannings of the database. It offers a discussion of a number of issues related to what sort of information is stored in a student database. It closes with a discussion of the training needs of those staff who are going to use such a database. The principles described in this paper can also be adapted for use in the designing of any health care related database system. The paper also addresses the question of why all colleges are not, already, using such systems.