How to Design ER Diagram for a Hospital Management System

Healthcare management is a crucial function that comes as the backbone of hospital management. An ER (Entity-Relationship) Diagram therefore functions as a foundation for the organization and visualization of the various entities, attributes, and relationships within a system.

In this article, the steps of building an ER Diagram for a Hospital Management System (HMS) will be examined closely.

ER Diagram for a Hospital Management System

Hospital Management System (HMS) is a comprehensive software tool devised to fast several hospital operations through a single and efficient system. It includes patient management, doctor management, room management, nurse management, test report management, personal data management, billing, and secretary management.

Each module deals with particular functionalities, for example, patient registration, appointment scheduling, the allocation of rooms, the management of medical records, billing and invoicing, and many more.

The system is developed using an ER Diagram(Entity-Relationship Diagram) which represents entities, attributes, and relationships between them thus ensuring a well-defined database schema organized and structured.

Hospital Management System Features

To design an Entity-Relationship Diagram (ER Diagram) for a Hospital Management System (HMS) with the entities provided, let’s focus on the following requirements:

• Patient Management: The platform should also allow for the patients registration and the management of their information with details such as demographics, medical history, and current condition in mind.
• Doctor Management: The system should have the functionality of a doctor directory in which details such as doctor’s specialties, contacts, and availability can be set.
• Room Management: The system should be able to assist the department in assigning and inspecting rooms in the hospital, particularly those that are available or not currently occupied.
• Nurse Management: The software should contain necessary functions like the management of nurse data like information about their departments, shifts, and contact details.
  system
• Test Report Management: The system provides a mechanism for the generation, storage, and retrieval of test reports on patients, which gives detailed information on the tests, results, and dates.
• Record Management: The system should keep track of hospital activities in their records. Each record should have a unique identification number for identification.
• Billing: The system will be handling billing details of services rendered to patients and this will cover all functions such as bill generation, tracking payments and management of insurance details.
• Receptionist Management: The system will have functions that will be able to handle a receptionist role in the hospital. Receptionists should be able to retrieve relevant patient data and do booking of appointments schedules.

Entities and Attributes of the Hospital Management System

A thing in the real world with an independent existence. It is may be an object with physical existence (ex: house, person) or with a conceptual existence (ex: course, job). The are represented by rectangle.

Let’s Defining Entities for Hospital Management System are:

1. Patient

• P-ID: Unique identifier for each Patient
• Name: Name of the Patient.
• DOB: Date of borthf of Patient.
• Gender: Gender of Patient.
• Mob-No:  Contact number of the Patient.
• Age: Age of Patient.

2. Employee

• E-ID: Unique identifier for each Employee.
• Name: Name of the Employee.
• Salary: Salary of Employee
• Sex: Gender of Employee.
• Mob-No: Contact number of the Employee.
• Address: Address of Employee.
• State: State of Employee
• City: city of Employee
• Pin–no: Pin no of Employee

3. Doctor

• E-ID (Foreign Key referencing Employee):
• Department: Department of doctor.
• Qualification: Qualification of Doctor

4. Nurse

• E-ID: E-ID is a foreign key linking a table to the Employee table through the Employee ID.

5. Room

• R-ID: It is an room id every room has different room number or ID.
• Type: It define the quality of room such as deluxe, private general etc.
• Capacity: It defines the number of people can stay in room.
• Availability: It define the duration or Availability of room.

6. Receptionist

• E-ID (Foreign Key referencing Employee): E-ID is a foreign key in a table that references the Employee table, typically used to establish a relationship between the two tables based on the Employee ID.

7. Test Report

• R-ID (Primary Key): Unique identifier for each Room.
• P-ID (Foreign Key referencing Patient): P-ID is a foreign key in a table that references the Patient table, typically used to establish a relationship between the two tables based on the Patient ID.
• Test Type: It define the what kinf of test.
• Result: It shows the test result.

8. Bill

• B-ID: Unique identifier for each Bill.
• P-ID (Foreign Key referencing Patient): P-ID is a foreign key in a table that references the Patient table, typically used to establish a relationship between the two tables based on the Patient ID.
• Amount: The Amount which Patient has to pay to the Hospital.

9. Records

• Record-no: Every record book has some number for each Patient.
• App-no: Every app book has some number for each Patient.

Establishing Relationships

Entities have some relationships with each other. Relationships define how entities are associated with each other.

Let’s Establishing Relationships between them are:

• Patient consults Doctor.
• Employee have roles as a nurse, doctor and receptionist within the hospital.
• Patient pays bills for medical services.
• Nurse governs rooms.
• Patient assigned rooms during their stay at hospital.
• Receptionist maintains hospital records.
• Patient has test report.

Relationships Between These Entities

1. Patient – Doctor Relationship

• A patient can have a relationship with one or more doctors for consultations or treatments.
• A doctor can have multiple patients.
• This is a Many-to-Many (Patient-to-Doctor) as multiple Patient can visit multiple Doctor.

2. Nurse – Rooms Relationship

• A nurse can be assigned to one or more rooms during their shift.
• A room can have multiple nurses assigned to it over different shifts.
• This is a many-to-many relationship between nurses and rooms, each nurse can be assigned to multiple rooms, and each room can have multiple nurses assigned to it.

3. Receptionist – Records Relationship

• A receptionist manages records which could include patient records, appointment schedules, or other administrative documents.
• A record can be managed by one or more receptionists.
• This is a many-to-many relationship between receptionists and records, each receptionist can manage multiple records, and each record can be managed by multiple receptionists.

4. Patient – Bills Relationship

• One patient can have multiple bills.
• One bill is associated with only one patient.
• This is a one-to-many relationship between patients and bills, each patient can have multiple bills, but each bill belongs to only one patient.

5. Patient – Test Report Relationship

• One patient can have multiple test reports.
• One test report is associated with only one patient.
• This is a one-to-many relationship between patients and test reports, each patient can have multiple test reports, but each test report belongs to only one patient.

6. Rooms – Patient Relationship

• One room can accommodate multiple patients over time.
• One patient occupies one room at a time.
• This is a one-to-many relationship between rooms and patients, each room can accommodate multiple patients, but each patient occupies only one room at a time.

Representation of ER Diagram

ER Diagram

Tips and Tricks to Improve Database Design

• Normalize the database: Normalize the database to avoid the redundancy and the dependency.
• Use appropriate data types: Choose proper data types for attributes to ensure optimal storage and assure data integrity.
• Index key fields: Indexing primary and foreign key fields can provide better performance with queries.
• Implement constraints: Apply constraints like NOT NULL, UNIQUE, and FOREIGN KEY to ensure data integrity.
• Consider scalability: Design the database with scalability in mind so as to be able to accommodate future growth and adjust to changes in requirements.
• Optimize queries: Write effective SQL queries and factor them out for better performance.
• Document the design: Make sure to document database design in details for better understanding and maintenance in the future.
• Security measures: Implement security measures such as user authentication and authorization to prevent unauthorized access into sensitive data.

Conclusion

The process of designing an entity-relationship diagram for a hospital management system is one that call for a thorough analysis of requirements, identification of entities, definition of attributes, and defining relationships. The foundation of an operational and efficient system lies in the carefully designed ER Diagram as it accounts for both current and future system requirements to cater to the wide range of functional needs of healthcare management.