Databases

About
A database or database management system (DBMS) is an organized collection of data.

A hospital database is a database that provides information on the existence and location of healthcare records inside hospitals. In addition, a database can provide online information about the relationships between medical conditions, symptoms, and medications to medical staff or patient education. For example, Physician Data Query is the US National Cancer Institute's (NCI) comprehensive cancer database. It contains peer-reviewed summaries on cancer treatment, screening, prevention, genetics, and supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine; a registry of more than 6,000 open and 17,000 closed cancer clinical trials from around the world; and a directory of professionals who provide genetics services.

A DBMS typically intends to provide convenient environment to develop and later maintain an application built around its respective database type. A DBMS either provides such tools, or allows integration with such external tools. Examples for tools relate to database design, application programming, application program maintenance, database performance analysis and monitoring, database configuration monitoring, DBMS hardware configuration (a DBMS and related database may span computers, networks, and storage units) and related database mapping (especially for a distributed DBMS), storage allocation and database layout monitoring, storage migration, etc.

Links

 * Ling Liu and Tamer M. Özsu (Eds.) (2009). "Encyclopedia of Database Systems, 4100 p. 60 illus. ISBN 978-0-387-49616-0.
 * Beynon-Davies, P. (2004). Database Systems. 3rd Edition. Palgrave, Houndmills, Basingstoke.
 * Connolly, Thomas and Carolyn Begg. Database Systems. New York: Harlow, 2002.
 * Gray, J. and Reuter, A. Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques, 1st edition, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1992.
 * Kroenke, David M. and David J. Auer. Database Concepts. 3rd ed. New York: Prentice, 2007.
 * Teorey, T.; Lightstone, S. and Nadeau, T. Database Modeling & Design: Logical Design, 4th edition, Morgan Kaufmann Press, 2005. ISBN 0-12-685352-5