Problem

Case Description You have been introduced to the Mountain View Community Hospital (MVCH)...

Case Description

You have been introduced to the Mountain View Community Hospital (MVCH) case in the preceding chapters. This chapter continues the case, with special emphasis on logical design for the relational data model. Although the hospital will continue to evaluate newer technology (e.g., object-oriented databases, XML, and XML databases), it is expected that relational technology will continue to dominate its systems development over the next few years.

Case Questions

Physicians at MVCH can be uniquely identified by their Social Security number, their license number, their DEA registration number, or hospital-assigned PhysicianID. Which attribute would you suggest using as the primary key for a PHYSICIAN relation? Why? What specific concerns are related to those attributes that you do not recommend be used?

Step-by-Step Solution

Solution 1

Step #1 of 3

Primary key for the physicians

In Mountain View Community Hospital (MVCH), the physicians are identified using some unique ID belong to them such as:

• SSN (Social Security Number)

• License number

• DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) registration number

• Physician ID assigned by the hospital.

From the above unique ID’s, the primary key attribute for PHYSICIAN relation can be.

Step #2 of 3

Justification for the selected primary key:

• Physician ID is unique and it will not change in the hospital database. This is because it is assigned to the physician by the hospital.

• The other attribute IDs are unique, but they may change over time.

• If an ID is lost or suspended, the physician will get a new ID and it will have a different number.

• Physician ID assigned by the hospital cannot be lost, because it is always stored in the hospital’s database.

Step #3 of 3

The specific concerns related with attributes which are not recommended for use are as follows:

• The information of a physician must be private and never be disclosed.

• The information in record of the hospital of the physician must be kept in tight security.

• The security must be fully organised and alert in order to avoid theft.

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Solutions For Problems in Chapter 4

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