WEB BASED HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

(A CASE STUDY OF CENTRAL HOSPITAL BENIN CITY)

BY

AKPEOKHAI EMMANUEL OSHOGWE

A PROJECT WORK SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

FACULTY OF BASIC AND APPLIED SICENCE

BENSON IDAHOSA UNIVERSITY

BENIN CITY, NIGERIA.

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

AWARD OF THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (B.Sc.) DEGREE IN

COMPUTER SCIENCE OF BENSON IDAHOSA UNIVERSITY

BENIN­CITY, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

MAY 2012

1

DEDICATION

I dedicate this project to God Almighty for His grace upon my life and for the strength He gave

me in bringing this work to a successful end.

\

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I will give special thanks to God almighty for his grace, love and support.

I am thankful to my seminar supervisor, Mr. Eguasa, for his encouragement, guidance and

support.

I would like to acknowledge my parents Mr. & Mrs. Akpeokhai and my siblings for their moral

and financial supports. I also want to acknowledge my lecturers: Dr Odabi, Dr. J. Ayeni, Dr

Aladeselu, Mr. A. Odion, Mr. W. Osazuwa, Elder T. Odiai, Dr Kingsley Obahiagbon, Mrs. J.

Ataha, pastor Sam Obadan, Mr. Osato and other lecturers and staff of the department of

mathematics and Computer Science for their support and taking their time to impact me with so

much knowledge that has enabled me bring this work to conclusion.

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page …………………………………………………………………………….i

Certification……………………………………………………………………….....ii

Dedication…………..…………………………….……………………......................iii

Acknowledgment……………………………………………………...……….……..iv

Table of Content………………………………………………………………………v

List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………..ix

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………x

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Background of Study……………………………………………………………1

1.2 Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………...1

1.2.1 Aims and Objectives………………………………….……………………….2

1.3 Scope of Study……………………………………………………………………2

1.4 Research Methodology…………………………………………………………...2

1.4.1 Interview with Medical Personnel……………………………………………...3

1.5 Limitations………………………………………………………………………..3

1.6 layout of the work………………………………………………………………..3

CHAPTER TWO

4

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of Web Based Hospital Management System……………………………..5

2.2 Clinical Practice…………………………………………………………………….7

2.2.1 Medical Institutions…………………………………………………………….11

2.2.2 Medicine as a Specialty…………………………………………………………12

2.2.3 Medical Ethics…………………………………………………………………...13

2.2.4 Legal Controls……………………………………………………………………14

2.3 The Internet………………………………………………………………………..15

2.3.1 World Wide Web………………………………………………………………...16

2.3.2 Web Servers………………………………………………………………………17

2.3.3 Accessibility………………………………………………………………………17

2.4 Php: Php Hypertext Preprocessor……………………………………………….......18

2.4.1 Benefits of Php……………………………………………………………….......19

2.5 Stages of System Development…………………………………………………….20

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

3.1 System Analysis…………………………………………………………….....22

3.1.1 Location of Case Study…………………………………………………..........23

3.1.2 About Central Hospital Benin City…………………………………………….23

3.1.3 Mission, Vision & Core Values……………………………………...................24

3.2 System Investigation…………………………………………………………...25

5

3.3 System Design………………………………………………………………....26

3.3.1 Chief Medical Director/Admin ……………………………….........................26

3.3.2 Receptionist…………………………………………………………………….27

3.3.3 Record Officer …………………………………………………………………27

3.3.4 Pharmacy……………………………………………………………………….28

3.3.5 Doctor……………………………………………………………………........28

3.3.6 Patient…………………………………………………………………………29

3.4 Database and Storage Requirement…………………………………………30

3.4.1 Controls and Backups……………………………………………………….34

3.4.2 Personnel and Procedures…………………………………………………..35

3.4.3 Advantages of the New System……………………………………………36

3.4.4 Disadvantages of the New System…………………………………………….36

CHAPTER FOUR

PROGRAMMING AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.2 Choice of Programming Language …………………………………………........39

4.3 Program Design…………………………………………………………………..40

4.3.1 Algorithm of the Program………………………………………………………40

4.3.2 Data Security Measures………………………………………………………….41

4.4 Experience While Debugging/Testing……………………………………………..42

4.4.1 Test Data……………………………………………………………………….43

4.5 Operating Procedures and User Guide………………………...............................43

6

4.5.1 User Guide……………………………………………………………………...44

4.6 Implementation………………………………………………………………......45

4.6.1 Software Coding………………………………………………………………..47

4.6.2 Software Testing (Verification/Validation)………………………………………47

4.6.3 Software Documentation………………………………………………………..48

4.6.4 Software Implementation………………………………………………………49

4.6.5 Software Maintenance/Evaluation………………………………………………49

4.6.6 Physical Security………………………………………………………………..50

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary ………………………………………………………………………….51

5.2 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….……51

5.3 Recommendation……………………………………………………………...…...52

References ………………………………………………………………………….….53

Appendix A: …………………………………………………………………………...54

Appendix B:………………………………………………………………………….…61

Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………..…67

LIST OF FIGURE

Fig 3.1: Organogram of Central Hospital Benin City………………………..……..25

Fig 3.2: Administrations………………………………………………………….…26

Fig 3.3: Receptionist……………………………………………………………......27

7

Fig 3.4: Record Officer…………………………………………………………..….27

Fig 3.5: Pharmacist……………………………………………………………....…..28

Fig 3.6: Doctor…………………………………………………………………....….29

Fig 3.7: Patient…………………………………………………………………….…30

Database and Storage Requirement……………………………….................................30

Fig 3.8: Hospitalinfo......................................................................................................30

Fig 3.9: Inbox..................................................................................................................31

Fig 3.10: Purchase............................................................................................................31

Fig3.11: Patient Information...........................................................................................32

Fig 3.12: Stock……………………………………………………………………...…..33

Fig 3.13: User……………………………………………………………….…………33

8

ABSTRACT

This system is a fully functional virtual health care centre or hospital because the relationship

between doctors and patients in far distance or remote areas is not a problem. Here patients can

send their health issues to their doctors from a far distance and in return the doctors will attend to

the patient online. In the approach to patient’s ill health, doctors only get to refer to serious cases

physically.

The System facilitates the relationship between the Doctors and the patients using the systems to

cover a wide range of hospital activities.

9

CHAPTER ONE

1.4 Background of Study

A Web Based Hospital Management System is an online system through which patients can

login and send information of their ailments to doctors, who will in turn attend to the patient

online or return responses in form of prescriptions that will soothe the patient’s medical

predicaments.

The main aim of the project is to make the distance between doctors and patients in far distance

or remote areas not to be a problem. Here patients can now send their health issues to their

doctors from a far distance and in return the doctors will attend to the patient online. In the

approach to patient’s ill health, doctors only get to refer to serious cases physically. This system

consist of two part structure, consisting of the Server­side (back­end) and the client­side

(front­end), thus known as Client/Server application. The Client­Side of the user interface is the

side seen by the user on the browser. And makes a request which is fulfilled by the server­side

(back­end logic) of the application, the project makes use of the World Wide Web (WWW) and

Server­Sided Scripting (PHP) to achieve this.

1.5 Statement of the Problem

This project is focused on web based hospital management System. In this System, we will

facilitate the relationship between the Doctors and the patients using the web based hospital

management systems to cover a wide range of hospital activities. Many steps are relevant to the

10

implementation of web based hospital management System, but the focus here is on the special

considerations relating to patients and doctors. Therefore, we will analyze information on the

System process which would enable us to satisfy this project.

1.2.1 Aims and Objectives

I. To enable doctors render medical services 24 hours online

II. To enable easy access to a doctor where you can’t see him physically

III. To eradicate lengthy queue in the hospital

IV. Discourages abuse of drugs and overdose when you can’t see the doctor

1.3 Scope of study

This project will only deal with the web based hospital management System of central hospital

Benin City Sapele Road. Benin City, Nigeria. And the process involved in making a good

relationship between the Doctors and the patients using this systems as a means to cover a wide

range of hospital activities.

Central hospital Benin City, comprising of various departments, this system was implemented

for some users, the chief medical director who is the administrator of the system, his role is to

add patient, add user, view all users, view all patients and view all stocks. The Receptionist add

patient and view all patients, the record officer credit account, The Pharmacist stock pharmacy,

view all purchase and view all stock. Doctor view all patients, view all mails, and view all

pharmacy. The patient send new mail, view mail and purchase drugs.

11

1.4 Research Methodology

This section highlights on the research used in gathering information, how web based hospital

management System affect the hospital. In addition, sources of literature, techniques employed

in data analysis as well as critiques to the method use. Below are the techniques used;

I. Interviews

II. Research and site visited

III. Observation

IV. Document review

It is important that information provided satisfies the purpose and should be reliable as well

1.4.1 Interview with Medical Personnel

We involve a discussion with trained medical personnel, which could either be a doctor or

pharmacist, in this discussion, hardcore and relevant facts were easily gathered about a particular

subject or various subjects of concern.

1.6 Limitations

In the course of carrying out this project, some difficulties were encountered such as getting

information. Inadequate power supply during research and typing of this project. Time

consumption was paramount with cost of research, transportation and material printing. Another

12

problem was trying to analyze and design of web based hospital management System with the

server sided script language (PHP) was a really daunting task.

1.6 Project layout

This section covers the layout to the project, these would include the following:

Chapter One ­ focuses on the introduction to the concept, background of study, statement o

problem, limitations, aims and objectives of the problems, it also highlight the definition of the

problem to be solved, and the solutions to the problems and also cover the scope of the project.

Chapter Two ­ the history of web based hospital management system, clinical practices and

what it entails are discussed; which includes components of medical interviews and encounter,

medical delivery and its types and the development of health care information from paper

records to electronic storage, A brief history of the internet, the world wide web and PHP, which

are the technologies use to make this project possible.

Chapter Three ­ The system analysis and design, this would cover all the analysis and

specification needed to carry out the designing of the web based hospital management system.

Chapter Four – focuses on explanation of programming tasks, a survey of programming

languages considered and the alternative of programming language used in the program design.

Chapter Five – Summary, conclusion and recommendation, this would include a comprehensive

summary of my research work with final conclusion statement and recommendation.

The references/bibliography and appendixes are also integrated respectively at the end of this

research work, the appendixes contain all supplementary comprehensive information that would

13

otherwise make the main report tedious, information like source code listings, sample output and

detailed program flowchart.

14

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 HISTORY OF WEB BASED HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The world’s first fully integrated web based hospital management service has been launched on

cloud computing, a pioneering service which allow hospitals across the globe to be manage 24

hours a day, 365 a year from anywhere in the world.

Design by U.K Meddserve – the service Medsystem Online, is brand new to the health care

world and offer a revolutionary solutions; transforming the way health care data is stored and

access and the way hospitals are managed and run worldwide.

Using cloud computing; were data and processing is managed remotely across the internet,

allows hospitals to pay for the service on a pay­ per ­use model, which means even institutions

from the poorest countries can take advantage of the new pioneering service.

Medsystem Online uses a SAAS (Software as a service) model. A strategic decision which

ensures hospitals don’t have to invest heavily on infrastructure, I.T support or training use the

technology and they never have to worry about upgrading the software.

It has ability to run all functions of the hospitals, controlling patient appointments, bed

admissions, shift patterns, Telemedicine, referrals to specialists and patient’s result such as

Blood tests, X­rays, Scans and Ultrasound.

As part of package there is also secondary service – Medrecord Online – which health records;

whenever they want to; wherever they are in the world. Store people’s medical history, allowing

15

individuals to access and control their own. Both systems works seamless flow together; offering

a valuable online service and a unique way of accessing data.

Arumugam Balaganapathy Meddserve’s Technical Director, who was behind the design of both

programmes, explains, “We have been working on this technology for 12 years and, we believe,

it is the most advance system in the world.

“It allows patient to take control of their own health records and it also improves and

standardizes the working practice of the doctors and consultants to a high level, allowing them to

share expertise and knowledge worldwide.”

Over the years Arumugam has work closely with healthcare practitioners and consultants to

understand what their needs are and determine how their job could be made easier through the

use of technology.

Arumugam explains: “we have taken the whole spectrum of computer science from the disc that

spins on the server to the most advance interfaces and configured them all to work together so

the user can simply log and have all of this delivering exactly what they need at a single click.”

Meddserve, The Healthcare care software solution provider, we are UK based company having

offices in the UK,India and Nepal,we provide the most advanced integrated health software

service for G.Ps Surgeries,Clinics,SMH­small, medium and large hospitals, and teaching

institutes. We are becoming the global word in online medical records for patients and general

public.

Where did it start? ­ It all started in a genetics department looking into families who had

psoriasis. They came to a clinic. A full history was taken from each person (their full health

16

information recorded) and then a blood specimen taken (to test DNA) and the family tree coded.

This was completely paperless, brilliant, because this was exactly what happened in most

consultations.But it could be much better.

The next phase...Was to take this system from the laboratory to the clinic. We found however

that there were many different IT systems in place that were often legacy systems from 15­20

years ago, prior to the internet. None of these were meant to talk to each other and no­one was

happy with them. We also recognised that the doctors, nurses and clinicians had many demands

that were different from the managers of the hospitals and clinics. Both had to be satisfied. We

therefore stood back and started afresh, without having to compromise. We therefore developed

something that started in the clinic room and then built the administration using the most reliable

web technologies available.

So where are we now? ­ The software service is now in use in the Uk, India and Nepal. Some of

the poorest people with the largest health needs are using the most advaced health software

service on the planet. Hospitals are fully telehealth enabled and we have also completed a pilot in

a remote village in Nepal, getting an expert opinion to remote villages from specialists in

Kathmandu.

The system is now being fully commercialised for a quick and effective roll out in Europe,Asia,

the far East and then back to the developed West...

2.2 CLINICAL PRACTICE

17

In clinical practice doctors personally assess patients in order to diagnose, treat, and prevent

disease using clinical judgment. The doctor­patient relationship typically begins an interaction

with an examination of the patient's medical history and medical record, followed a medical

interview and aphysical examination. Basic diagnosticmedical devices (e.g.stethoscope,tongue

depressor) are typically used. After examination for signs and interviewing for symptoms, the

doctor may order medical tests (e.g. blood tests), take a biopsy, or prescribe pharmaceutical

drugs or other therapies. Differential diagnosis methods help to rule out conditions based on the

information provided. During the encounter, properly informing the patient of all relevant facts is

an important part of the relationship and the development of trust. The medical encounter is then

documented in the medical record, which is a legal document in many jurisdictions. Follow­ups

may be shorter but follow the same general procedure.

The components of the medical interview and encounter are:

I. Chief complaint (cc): the reason for the current medical visit. These are the

'symptoms.' They are in the patient's own words and are recorded along with the

duration of each one. Also called 'presenting complaint.'

II. History of present illness / complaint (HPI): the chronological order of events of

symptoms and further clarification of each symptom.

III. Current activity: occupation, hobbies, what the patient actually does.

18

IV. Medications (Rx): what drugs the patient takes including prescribed,

over­the­counter, and home remedies, as well as alternative and herbal

medicines/herbal remedies. Allergies are also recorded.

V. Past medical history (PMH/PMHx): concurrent medical problems, past

hospitalizations and operations, injuries, past infectious diseases and/orvaccinations,

history of known allergies.

VI. Social history (SH): birthplace, residences, marital history, social and economic

status, habits (including diet, medications, tobacco, alcohol).

VII. Family history (FH): listing of diseases in the family that may impact the patient. A

family tree is sometimes used.

VIII. Review of systems (ROS) or systems inquiry: a set of additional questions to ask

which may be missed on HPI: a general enquiry (have you noticed any weight loss,

change in sleep quality, fevers, lumps and bumps? etc.), followed by questions on the

body's main organ systems (heart, lungs, digestive tract, urinary tract, etc.).

The physical examination is the examination of the patient looking for signs of disease

('Symptoms' are what the patient volunteers, 'Signs' are what the headthcare provider detects by

examination). The healthcare provider uses the senses of sig`4, hearing, touch, and 3ometimes

smell (e.g. in infection, uremia, diabetic ketoacidosis). Taste has been made redundant by the

availability of modern lab tests. Four actions are taught as the basis of physical examination:

inspection, palpation (feel), percussion (tap to determine resonance characteristics), and

19

auscultation (listen). This order may be modified depending on the main focus of the

examination (e.g. a joint may be examined by simply "look, feel, and move". Having this set

order is an educational tool that encourages the practitioner to be systematic in their approach

and refrain from using tools such as the stethoscope before they have fully evaluated the other

modalities.

The clinical examination involves study of:

I. Vital signs including height, weight, body temperature,blood pressure,pulse, respiration

rate, hemoglobin oxygen saturation

II. General appearance of the patient and specific indicators of disease (nutritional status,

presence of jaundice, pallor or clubbing)

III. Skin

IV. Head, eye, ear, nose, and throat (HEENT)

V. Cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels)

VI. Respiratory (large airways and lungs)

VII. Abdomen and rectum

VIII. Genitalia (and pregnancy if the patient is or could be pregnant)

IX. Musculoskeletal (including spine and extremities)

X. Neurological (consciousness, awareness, brain, vision, cranial nerves, spinal cord and

peripheral nerves)

XI. Psychiatric (orientation, mental state, evidence of abnormal perception or thought).

20

It is to likely focus on areas of interest highlighted in the medical history and may not include

everything listed above. Laboratory and imaging studies results may be obtained, if necessary.

The medical decision­making (MDM) process involves analysis and synthesis of all the above

data to come up with a list of possible diagnoses (the differential diagnoses), along with an idea

of what needs to be done to obtain a definitive diagnosis that would explain the patient's

problem.

The treatment plan may include ordering additional laboratory tests and studies, starting therapy,

referral to a specialist, or watchful observation. Follow­up may be advised.

This process is used by primary care providers as well as specialists. It may take only a few

minutes if the problem is simple and straightforward. On the other hand, it may take weeks in a

patient who has been hospitalized with bizarre symptoms or multi­system problems, with

involvement by several specialists.

On subsequent visits, the process may be repeated in an abbreviated manner to obtain any new

history, symptoms, physical findings, and lab or imaging results or specialist consultations.

2.2.1 Medical Institutions

Contemporary medicine is in general conducted within health care systems. Legal,credentialing

and financing frameworks are established by individual governments, augmented on occasion by

international organizations. The characteristics of any given health care system have significant

impact on the way medical care is provided.

21

Advanced industrial countries (with the exception of the United States) and many developing

countries provide medical services through a system of universal health care which aims to

guarantee care for all through a single­payer health care system, or compulsory private or

co­operative health insurance. This is intended to ensure that the entire population has access to

medical care on the basis of need rather than ability to pay. Delivery may be via private medical

practices or by state­owned hospitals and clinics, or by charities; most commonly by a

combination of all three.

Most tribal societies, and the United States, provide no guarantee of healthcare for the population

as a whole. In such societies, healthcare is available to those that can afford to pay for it or have

self­insured it (either directly or as part of an employment contract) or who may be covered by

care financed by the government or tribe directly.

Transparency of information is another factor defining a delivery system. Access to information

on conditions, treatments, quality, and pricing greatly affects the choice by patients/consumers

and, therefore, the incentives of medical professionals. While the US healthcare system has come

under fire for lack of openness, new legislation may encourage greater openness. There is a

perceived tension between the need for transparency on the one hand and such issues as patient

confidentiality and the possible exploitation of information for commercial gain on the other.

2.2.2 Medicine as a Specialty

Internal medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and

nonsurgical treatment of unusual or serious diseases, either of one particular organ system or of

22

the body as a whole. According to some sources, an emphasis on internal structures is implied. In

North America, specialists in internal medicine are commonly called "internists". Elsewhere,

especially in Commonwealth nations, such specialists are often called physicians. These terms,

internist or physician (in the narrow sense, common outside North America), generally exclude

practitioners of gynecology and obstetrics, pathology, psychiatry, and especially surgery and its

subspecialties.

Because their patients are often seriously ill or require complex investigations, internists do

much of their work in hospitals. Formerly, many internists were not sub specialized; such general

physicians would see any complex nonsurgical problem; this style of practice has become much

less common. In modern urban practice, most internists are subspecialists: that is, they generally

limit their medical practice to problems of one organ system or to one particular area of medical

knowledge. For example, gastroenterologists and nephrologists specialize respectively in

diseases of the gut and the kidneys.

In the Commonwealth of Nations and some other countries, specialist pediatricians and

geriatricians are also described as specialist physicians (or internists) who have subspecialized by

age of patient rather than by organ system. Elsewhere, especially in North America, general

pediatrics is often a form of Primary care.

There are many subspecialities (or subdisciplines) of internal medicine:

Cardiology

Critical care medicine

Endocrinology

23

Gastroenterology

Geriatrics

Haematology

Hepatology

Infectious diseases

Nephrology

Oncology

Pediatrics

Pulmonology/Pneumology/Respirology

Rheumatology

Sleep medicine.

Training in internal medicine (as opposed to surgical training), varies considerably across the

world: see the articles on Medical education and Physician for more details. In North America, it

requires at least three years of residency training after medical school, which can then be

followed by a one to three year fellowship in the subspecialties listed above. In general, resident

work hours in medicine are less than those in surgery, averaging about 60 hours per week in the

USA. This difference does not apply in the UK where all doctors are now required by law to

work less than 48 hours per week on average.

2.2.3 Medical ethics

24

Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of

medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in

clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. Six of the

values that commonly apply to medical ethics discussions are:

I. Autonomy ­ the patient has the right to refuse or choose their treatment. (Voluntas aegroti

suprema lex.)

II. Beneficence ­ a practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient. (Salus aegroti

suprema lex.)

III. Justice ­ concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets

what treatment (fairness and equality).

IV. Non­maleficence ­ "first, do no harm" (primum non nocere).

V. Respect for persons ­ the patient (and the person treating the patient) have the right to be

treated with dignity.

VI. Truthfulness and honesty ­ the concept of informed consent has increased in importance

since the historical events of the Doctors' Trial of the Nuremberg trials and Tuskegee

syphilis experiment.

2.2.4 Legal controls

In most countries, it is a legal requirement for a medical doctor to be licensed or registered. In

general, this entails a medical degree from a university and accreditation by a medical board or

an equivalent national organization, which may ask the applicant to pass exams. This restricts the

25

considerable legal authority of the medical profession to physicians that are trained and qualified

by national standards. It is also intended as an assurance to patients and as a safeguard against

charlatans that practice inadequate medicine for personal gain. While the laws generally require

medical doctors to be trained in "evidence based", Western, or Hippocratic Medicine, they are

not intended to discourage different paradigms of health.

Doctors who are negligent or intentionally harmful in their care of patients can face charges of

medical malpractice and be subject to civil, criminal, or professional sanctions.

2.3 THE INTERNET

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard

Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve

billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private,

public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by

a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an

extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter­linked hypertext

documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.

Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are

reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as Voice over Internet

Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Newspaper, book and other print

publishing are adapting to Web site technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds.

The Internet has enabled or accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant

26

messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has boomed both for major

retail outlets and small artisans and traders. Business­to­business and financial services on the

Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.

The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United

States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust,

fault­tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S. backbone by the

National Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial

backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies,

and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an

international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect

of modern human life. As of 2011, more than 2.2 billion people – nearly a third of Earth's

population — use the services of the Internet.

The Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for

access and usage; each constituent network sets its own standards. Only the overreaching

definitions of the two principal name spaces in the Internet, the Internet Protocol address space

and the Domain Name System, are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet

Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and

standardization of the core protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) is an activity of the Internet Engineering

Task Force (IETF), a non­profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that

anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise.

27

2.3.1 World Wide Web

The World Wide Web ("WWW" or simply the "Web") is a global information medium which

users can read and write via computers connected to the Internet. The term is often mistakenly

used as a synonym for the Internet itself, but the Web is a service that operates over the Internet,

as e­mail does. The history of the Internet, dates back significantly further than that of theWorld

Wide Web.

The hypertext portion of the Web in particular has an intricate intellectual history; notable

influences and precursors include Vannevar Bush's Memex, IBM's Generalized Markup

Language, and Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu.

The concept of a home­based global information system goes at least as far back as "A Logic

Named Joe", a 1946 short story by Murray Leinster, in which computer terminals, called

"logics," were in every home. Although the computer system in the story is centralized, the story

captures some of the feeling of the ubiquitous information explosion driven by the Web.

2.3.2 Web Servers

The primary function of a web server is to deliver web pages on the request to clients. This

means delivery of HTML documents and any additional content that may be included by a

document, such as images, style sheets and scripts.

2.3.3 Accessibility

28

Access to the Web is for everyone regardless of disability—including visual, auditory, physical,

speech, cognitive, and neurological. Accessibility features also help others with temporary

disabilities like a broken arm or the aging population as their abilities change. The Web is used

for receiving information as well as providing information and interacting with society, making it

essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to

people with disabilities. Tim Berners­Lee once noted, "The power of the Web is in its

universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." Many countries

regulate web accessibility as a requirement for websites. International cooperation in the W3C

Web Accessibility Initiative led to simple guidelines that web content authors as well as software

developers can use to make the Web accessible to persons who may or may not be using

assistive technology

2.4 PHP: PHP HYPERTEXT PREPROCESSOR

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor is a general­purpose scripting language that was originally

designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is

embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP

processor module, which generates the web page document. As a general­purpose programming

language, PHP code is processed by an interpreter application in command­line mode

performing desired operating system operations and producing program output on its standard

output channel. It may also function as a graphical application. PHP is available as a processor

29

for most modern web servers and as a standalone interpreter on most operating systems and

computing platforms.

PHP was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and has been in continuous development

ever since. The main implementation of PHP is now produced by the PHP Group and serves as

the de facto standard for PHP as there is no formal specification. PHP is free software released

under the PHP License.

PHP is an "HTML­embedded scripting language" primarily used for dynamic Web applications.

The first part of this definition means that PHP code can be interspersed with HTML, making it

simple to generate dynamic pieces of Web pages on the fly. As a scripting language, PHP code

requires the presence of the PHP processor. PHP code is normally run in plain­text scripts that

will only run on PHP­enabled computers (conversely programming languages can create

standalone binary executable files, a.k.a. programs). PHP takes most of its syntax from C, Java,

and Perl. It is an open source technology and runs on most operating systems and with most Web

servers.

2.4.1 Benefits of PHP

I. Web services

PHP is one of the best and easy to use programming language as it can be run to any operating

system. PHP is free language so that is the huge advantage of this language. For handling

database connections, formatting date, editing strings, handling emails and all PHP can be very

useful. It can be easily extend for some specific functions that you would like to add in your

30

website. Reliability of this language is extra ordinary as PHP already runs on millions of servers

around the world, which means that it's powerful enough for even the most demanding

situations. It provides web developers much more liberation in creating website with some of the

outstanding features and they can use regular elements frequently. PHP can be very much

successful for creating Dynamic Websites. PHP programmers with the use of open source codes

benefit from the flexibility of editing, modifying and updating the source code when there is

mandatory.

II. Language independence

They act as a speed boosters, PHP application can be integrated with any database especially

with MYSQL, the PHP MYSQl combination allows for easy and smooth database

amalgamation. Also several benefits of hiring a PHP developer include reduction of cost since

PHP also integrate with a number of open source applications like Joomla, Drupal, WordPress

e.g. being an open source technology it allows the user to make use of all platforms like Apache,

Solaris, Windows, Linux and various other platforms in order to take advantage of the

investments made.

2.5 STAGES OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

We use spiral model because for project with risky elements, it’s beneficial to run a series of risk

reduction iteration which can be followed by waterfall or other non­risk­base lifestyle. Spiral is

a risk­ oriented model that breaks a software project up into mini­ project, addressing one or

31

more major risks. After major risks have been addressed, the spiral model terminate as a

waterfall model, spiral iteration involves six steps

I. Determine objectives, alternative and constraints

II. Identify and resolve risk

III. Evaluate alternative

IV. Develop the deliverables for that iteration and verify that they are correct.

V. Plan the next iteration

VI. Commit to an approach for the next iteration

We chose spiral model because it has the following strength, early iteration of the project are the

cheapest, enabling the highest risk to be addressed at the lowest total cost. This ensures that as

costs increases, risks decreases. Also each iteration of spiral can be tailored to suit the need of

the project.

Spiral model emphasizes the need to go back and reiterate earlier stages a number of times as the

project progresses. It’s actually a series of short waterfall cycles, each producing an early

prototype representing a part of the entire project. This approach helps demonstrate a proof of the

concept early in the cycle, and it more accurately reflects the disorderly, even chaotic evolution

of technology. It gives you the privilege to write some code, and then keep modifying it until the

customer gets satisfied.

32

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

3.1 SYSTEM ANALYSIS

With this new system, services are rendered by doctors day and night (24hours services). The old

system is face with the problem of queuing to get hospital card and register with the receptionist

before you can get to see the doctor, sometimes doctor’s are not always present in the hospital,

so patients would have to wait for several hours before they will see the doctors. Hence we

introduce the web based hospital management system, though the old system is still in use. The

intention of this new system was not to eradicate the old method, but for better improvement.

In this project we close the distance between doctors and their patients by creating a web based

medical system through which patients can give detailed analysis of ailments to doctors, who

will in turn return responses in form of prescriptions that will soothe their (patients) medical

predicaments. The system also contains an online pharmacy; where the patients can purchase the

drugs prescribe by the doctor online, the web based hospital management system consists of

patients and doctors. The receptionist gives the patients an ID with which he/she can contact

doctors by creating an account with the user name and a password after which they can start

sessions with doctors (this is equivalent to the manual method of seeing the doctor face to face

after opening a file at the reception or nurse’s office as the case may be). After a patient lays a

complaint, it gets posted on the doctor’s end. The doctor after logging into the site can respond to

complaints from patients and give drug prescriptions. This is again posted on the clients end

(patient). The patients after receiving this response can purchase drugs prescribe by the doctor.

33

This system is built in such way that a patient can purchase only those drugs that have been

prescribe by the doctor; this avoids any cases of over dosage and drug abuse.

3.1.1 Location of case study

Central Hospital is located in the centre of Benin City, on Sapele road, few kilometers from the

City Center. The hospital can be accessed from either the Ring Road or any of the adjoining

Roads.

3.1.4 About Central Hospital Benin city

Central Hospital is a government hospital located in the serene centre of Benin, on Sapele road,

few kilometers from the City Center. The hospital can be accessed from either the Ring Road or

any of the adjoining Roads and is within close proximity of the Benin City Airport and the Oba’s

palace.

Central Hospital is a fully fledged hospital offering high quality healthcare services in response

to the changing demands for efficient, effective and affordable treatment, rehabilitation and

preventive healthcare programs. The Hospital has spacious and secure parking for staff and

visitors.

The placement and arrangement of departments has been carefully done with convenience of our

patients and visitors in mind. Our spacious and fully equipped patient rooms coupled with a

pleasant surrounding are designed to give our patients a homely and away from hospital feel. The

Hospital is surrounded by well­maintained beautiful gardens of diverse trees and flowers

34

including an organic farming facility for healthy vegetables, all of which combined offer

wonderful and refreshing scenery.

Central Hospital has the latest state of art communication, information and entertainment

facilities for the convenience of our patients and visitors. Our convenient state of the art nurse

call communication system, places our friendly nurses only a button away, round the clock.

Central Hospital supply of electricity is supported by stand­by generator and UPS facilities in

case of any mains power failure all of which provide an un­noticeable, seamless changeover. To

ensure smooth running at all times, an extensively trained personnel in the maintenance

department offers round the clock upkeep.

3.1.5 Mission, Vision & Core Values

I. VISION

To be a reputable, world class health care provider offering teaching, research and referral

facilities for Nigeria in particular, and Africa region and beyond in general.

II. MISSION

To provide value for money quality health care services assisted by the most modern

state­of­the­art equipment and to offer the best medical training, research and referral

facilities’ – The Central Hospital works alongside the following principles.

III. CORE VALUES

a. Compassionate Care: Services at The Central Hospital are a combination of high quality

treatment and compassionate care

35

b. Convenience: We value your time. Promptness of service is a high priority

c. Cost: We ensure that health care excellence is accessible to all our patients. In additions

to competitive pricing, we have introduced a large number of fixed price packages for a

variety of surgical/medical procedures. These make health care costs predictable with a

price advantage

d. Competence: The Central Hospital provides both general and specialized medical

services. We ensure that you get the best services delivered by highly qualified,

competent medical personnel assisted by state­of­the­art technology and equipment.

ORGANOGRAM OF CENTRAL HOSPITAL BENIN CITY

FIG 3.1

36

3.2 SYSTEM INVESTIGATION

I. Interview with Medical Personnel

This involves a discussion with which trained medical personnel, who could either be a doctor or

pharmacist, in such discussions, hardcore and relevant facts can be easily gathered about a

particular subject or various subjects of concern.

2.2 SYSTEM DESIGN

3.3.1 CHIEF MEDICAL DIRECTOR/ADMIN

Log into the system using a username and a password, he then add a patient to the system by

registry the patient, filling in this details, title either Mr./Mrs./chief, FIRSTNAME,

MIDDLENAME, LASTNAME, AGE, SEX, ADRESS, STATE, NATIONALITY, EXISTING

HEALTH CONDITON, BLOOD GROUP, GENOTYPE, CONTACT PHONE NO,

USERNAME, PASSWORD and then submit, this user is then automatically a registered patient

of the system. He also add a user by filling in this details, TITLE as a DOC, FIRSTNAME,

MIDDLE NAME, LASTNAME, AGE, SEX,ADRESS,STATE, NATIONALITY,

SECTION,CONTACT PHONE NUMBER, USERNAME AND PASSWORD and then submit.

View the different users that are registered into the system. VIEW ALL PATIENTS that uses the

system, and he also view stock to know drugs available in the pharmacy.

37

Admin

FIG: 3.2

2.2.2 RECEPTIONIST

Log into the system using a username and a password, he then add a patient to the system by

registry the patient, filling in this details, title either Mr./Mrs./chief, FIRSTNAME,

MIDDLENAME, LASTNAME, AGE, SEX, ADRESS, STATE, NATIONALITY, EXISTING

HEALTH CONDITON, BLOOD GROUP, GENOTYPE, CONTACT PHONE NO,

USERNAME, PASSWORD and then submit, and also VIEW ALL PATIENTS.

38

Receptionist

FIG 3.3

3.3.3 RECORD OFFICER

Credit a patient account, using the patient ID which is a unique key that differentiate patients and

put in the amount the patient is paying, and then click on submit then a display message shows

saying payment successful for that patient, but if a wrong patient ID is inserted it displays a

message, Invalid patient Identification.

Record officer

FIG 3.4

3.3.4 PHAMARCY

Log into the system, Add drug names, DRUG TYPE, MANUFACTURER, DRUG COST,

QUANTITY, and PRECAUTIONS, then click on add to inventory. VIEW ALL DRUG

PURCHASE MADE and also VIEW STOCK.

39

Pharmacist

FIG 3.5

3.4.5 DOCTOR

Log into the system with a username and a password, view pharmacy, view all registered patient

of the system, view a mail sent by a patient, if he receive a mail it shows the number of mails

unread, and then open to view them, he reads the content, send response of a drug prescription or

ask the patient to visit the hospital.

40

Doctor

FIG 3.6

3.4.6 PATIENT

A registered patient Log into the system with a username and a password, send title of their

ailment, and explain how they feel and submit it to a particular doctor. He buys drugs online

from the available drugs with their price sold listed, tell them the quantity he/she want, for

instance you needed to purchase 15 packets of panadol, and they have 10 packet of it left, it

displays a message, “ dear customer, we have only 10 packets of this drugs. If you request for the

10 packets they have, you see a receipt carrying the cost of the drug, transportation cost included,

name of the patient, patient identification number, quantity, dosage, precaution, underneath the

receipt is a message, “Please keep a copy of this receipt for reference purposes. The purchase

41

will be delivered within an hour of receiving this order thank you”. This service is only available

for patients in Benin­City. They read a mail a response from the doctor telling them the drugs to

take or to visit the hospital.

Patient

FIG 3.7

3.5 DATABASE AND STORAGE REQUIREMENT

Hospitalinfo

Field Type Null

hospitalname varchar(50) No

hospitalphone varchar(15) No

42

hospitaladdres

s

varchar(50) No

design varchar(60) No

FIG: 3.8

Inbox

Field Type Null

m_id varchar(40) No

t_id varchar(40) No

s_id varchar(40) No

title varchar(50) No

message varchar(200) No

priority varchar(20) No

status varchar(15) No

FIG 3.9

Purchase

Field Type Null

p_id varchar(40) No

purchase varchar(20) No

43

quantity varchar(20) No

pid varchar(20) No

date varchar(40) No

cost varchar(20) No

FIG 3.10

Patient_information

Field Type Null

title varchar(20) No

fname varchar(20) No

mname varchar(20) No

lname varchar(20) No

phone varchar(15) No

sex varchar(10) No

bg varchar(5) No

gen varchar(5) No

address varchar(50) No

state varchar(20) No

44

nationality varchar(20) No

conditions varchar(50) No

pid varchar(20) No

age varchar(10) No

username varchar(10) No

password varchar(10) No

status varchar(10) No

FIG 3.11

Stock

Field Type Null

item_id varchar(20) No

name varchar(50) No

type varchar(20) No

manufacturer varchar(100) No

quantity varchar(20) No

dosage varchar(500) No

precaution varchar(500) No

45

cost varchar(20) No

FIG 3.12

Users

Field Type Null

uid varchar(40) No

username varchar(10) No

password varchar(10) No

fname varchar(20) No

mname varchar(20) No

lname varchar(20) No

sex varchar(10) No

address varchar(50) No

state varchar(20) No

nationality varchar(20) No

section varchar(20) No

title varchar(10) No

phone varchar(15) No

permission varchar(10) No

FIG 3.13

46

3.4.1 Controls and Backups

Vital to any organization are provisions to ensure the accuracy, security and privacy of software

and hardware resources. For this system, controls were instituted to make sure that data are

inputs, processed, and output correctly so as to prevent data destruction, unauthorized program

modifications or any other tampering that may occur. These controls can further be subdivided

into security and privacy controls, accuracy controls, and audit controls.

I. Security and privacy controls

In this project, security was taken into serious deliberation. Primarily, i made sure that it was not

possible for a user to view other user’s information. Another security measure we took was to

ensure we avoided clashes in doctor’s prescription to patients i.e. we made sure that it was

impossible for several doctors to make prescriptions to a single patient.

II. Accuracy and controls

In this phase, several fields were given appropriate data types to prevent incorrect information

from inflowing the database. Another thing is that, on the client’s side, JavaScript was written to

avoid users from submitting.

III. Audit controls

I made sure that transactions were recorded appropriately and also prevented inventory from

becoming negative. By tracing the source of any problem that arises.

47

IV. System backups

I did my possible best to avoid severe loss of data by making records as inactive or deleted rather

than actually removing them from the database. This was to prevent accidental loss of precious

data. Also, in the system, the database administrator can back up the entire database in SQL

(structured Query Language) queries.

3.4.2 Personnel and Procedures

In this system the following personnel are needed for the smooth running of the system

I. Doctors

II. Database Administrator

I. Doctors

The job of the doctor is to respond to request from patients and prescribe drugs to them.

II. Database Administrator (DBA)

The job of the DBA is to create the actual database and to make sure that the database is up and

running (i.e. he implements the technical controls needed to enforce the various policy decisions

and made by the Data Administrator). He periodically checks the database for inconsistencies

and corrects them if necessary. He is important to this project because he corrects errors made by

users in the database. For example, if a doctor posts a reply and due to network error it is not

updated in the database and then the Doctor retries to insert reply into the database, this means

that there will be two responses for one session and this could case error in the application, it is

the job of the database administrator to fix these inconsistencies.

48

3.4.3 Advantages of the new system

I. It helps by reducing the Outpatient wait time and by making the Medical records easily

accessible

II. It helps generate well­timed and precise patient information and helps in clinical audit

III. It aids in faster administrative handling of patients and clinical assessment

IV. It helps in improving reorganization of operations and operational control

3.4.4 Disadvantages of the new System

I. Cost in setting up the system is expensive

II. Where there is no constant power supply

III. Issues in training personnel and users of the system

49

CHAPTER FOUR

PROGRAMMING AND IMPLEMENTATION

In the development of any system, documentation plays a vital role in the sense that it is the

bedrock of the system continuity that is it keeps the system going and it links the system with the

outside world. This aspect of system development explains the process involved in the cost of

developing the system, the stages of the processes, the difficulties encountered and how they are

tackled, the debugging process and running the test data. Other documentation information

includes information needed for the outside world, interaction with the system. There are

information that will assist programmers to be able carry out various developments and

modification that may be needed during the course of using the system.

In writing or designing a computer program, there are basic steps or stages the programmer

needs to follow in order to accomplish a successful programming Task.

These tasks are

I. Algorithm: ­ Algorithm is a term used to refer to a finite sequence of steps

required in solving specified tasks. An algorithm can be in form of a pseudo code

or flowchart.

II. Choice of programming language:­ In order for the programmer to successfully

implement the task, it is important for him to use a suitable programming

language. The choice of programming is determined based on the programmer’s

familiarity with the language as well as the suitability of language.

50

III. Coding: ­ This is the stage where the algorithms are translated into the equivalent

programming language syntax.

IV. Debugging­ Usually, when a program is written, there is always a chance for the

program to have some errors. When such error occurs, then it is needful that the

errors are debugged from the program. The program is re­run to ascertain if it is

free from errors.

V. Dry running and program execution: ­ Dry running is the term used to refer to the

process of running a program. The programmer using the brain and skills

manually. Programmers using the brain ad skills manually. Program execution

refers to the process of running the program using the computer.

VI. Flowchart: ­ This is a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm. The flowchart

shows the flow of the execution of the program instructions.

VII. Problem definition and Analysis: ­This is the stage in which the programmer

defines the input, processes and outputs requirements of the problem to solve. The

analysis has to do with specifying how the inputs defined will be processed to get

the desired outputs.

VIII. Program review and maintenance – Maintenance is the process of continuous

adaptation so as to meet users changing needs, review has to do with evaluating

the performance of the software to ascertain if it meets with the objectives defined

by the user. If the objectives are not met, then the program or software

maintenance initiated, either due to case where the programs has some errors or

51

even when there is a change in the user requirement, for example, change in staff

structure, staff strength, etc

Consequently, it is pertinent to state that software development stages are a cycle. That is if the

program or software is been reviewed and the defined objectives are not met, then the

programmer redefines and analyze the problem and consequently carries out the necessary steps

or stages.

4.2 CHOICE OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Having considered the above mentioned features, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and a

Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) (an object oriented programming language) was chosen as most

suitable for developing this application. Though there is an addition, Java for designing the web

based hospital management aspect of this application but this was not the case as not enough

knowledge has been acquired to that effect so this study has carried out with strict confines to the

transaction and information aspects.

PHP is very much popular than any other language because it is open source (which means that it

is free) and is supported by other open source programs like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal e.g.

being an open source technology it allows the user to make use of all the platforms like Apache,

Solaris, Windows, Linux and various other platforms in order to take advantage of the

investments.

52

Being an objected oriented programming language, PHP has selected as the as the programming

language of choice due to the ability of this programming language to model various human

behaviors’ expected of the system. While Html was chosen for its simplicity, PHP’s choice is

largely based on its ability to interface with MYSQL database, ability to manipulate form

information, and also create pages dynamically. PHP has the capability to create cookie sessions

which authenticates users against login credentials stored in the database.

4.3 PROGRAM DESIGN

The software was designed using the modular approach. In other words, the system comprises of

several modules coming together to form the entire transaction processing and management

system.

Each modules was designed and development separately and later linked together to form the

coherent system. The processing function of the web based hospital management system has

been broken down into several major tasks for simplicity. Each of these tasks that remain

relatively complex is further decomposed into sub­tasks.

A module is a modest­sized sub­program, which can work independently. It is self­contained and

its removable form a system will only disable the unique functions performed by the module.

The source program listing is attached in Appendix A

4.3.1 ALGORITM OF THE PROGRAM

This involves specifying a complete sequence of sequence of task that is required to solve the

problems already defined or algorithm can be viewed as the step­by­step solution to a certain

53

problem. An example is set of steps in performing the medical services we do and the

prescription of drugs to patients.

This is usually referred to as a pseudo. When the algorithm is written as a pseudo code it makes

it easy for the programmer to translate it to the programming language of implementation.

The system has the main task to credit a patient account before he can be able to consult a doctor

for central hospital Benin city Hospital.

TASK 1: ALGORITHM TO CREDIT A PATIENT ACCOUNT

Step 1: Credit account

Step 2: Enter patient ID

Step 3: Enter the amount

Step 4: Submit account to database

TASK 2: ALGORITHM FOR PURCHASING DRUGS

Step 1: patient login using his/her username and password

Step 2: click on buy drugs online

Step 3: Display pharmacy store

Step 4: click on the button to view drugs and the cost

Step 5: Type in the quantity you want to purchase

Step 6: If the quantity is > the available quantity

54

Step 7: Message Display “Dear customer we have < quantity of that drug

Step 8: Purchase the available quantity

Step 9: Message display and show a page

Step 10: Stop

4.3.2 Data Security Measures

In this project, data security was implemented in the following ways.

I. Proper Data Storage­ All sensitive data like passwords, account balances and so on

where saved on the server and not in cookies that exist on the client’s machine.

This was to prevent unauthorized viewing of this sensitive data.

II. Data Validation Techniques­ In this project, JavaScript was used to prevent null

data from being sent to the database from the client machines, JavaScript was used

because the browser will determine if the input is correct before sending it to the

server to prevent heavy network traffic.

III. Data Storage Restrictions­ Special care was also given to fields of data to be stored

in the database, which is using the most restrictive data types rather than the most

liberal. For example, the Gender fields made use of the “char” data type with length 1

rather than “varchar” of 50 or even text fields. This is to ensure that only the right

data enters into the database.

55

4.4 EXPERIENCE WHILE DEBUGGING/TESTING

I. Error handlers were use to implement error trapping functions, informing the user of the

presence and precise nature of an error without necessarily development and system

testing,

II. Robustness was tested by varying inputs from several samples users to extreme values.

III. Integrity was tested by comparing programs performance to requirement specification.

IV. User criticism was essential in spotting bugs (for dependencies) that were not detected

during development.

V. Level of user friendliness was evaluated observing how easy it is for some well picked

system users to get along with the system.

4.4.1 Test Data

During the cost of the development of the system, fictitious data was used for testing and

debugging the program. Examples of areas where fictitious data was used include names of

doctor e.g. Caterine Greg (female) and names of patients which include Viniel Jackson (female)

and Michelle Robert (male). This test data were used to simulate different situations and

interactions between the doctor and her patients.

4.5 OPERATING PROCEDURES AND USER GUIDE

56

INSTALLATION PROCEDURE: The installation consists of two storages: the first has to do

with installing the web and application servers. While the second stage is uploading the software

application into the web and application server. A web server is software that serves web pages

in response to requests from web browsers. While An application server lets you work with

server­side resources such as databases.

Stage 1:

­ Download a fresh copy of Xamp or Wamp application.

­ Install the setup onto the drive C of the PC.

­ After installation is complete, Verify the installed company by clicking on the drive that

contains the Wamp or Xamp installation i.e. drive C.

­ Type http://localhost on any web browsr to view the phpMyAdmin database it contains.

Stage 2:

­ Copy the application software folder (Vivian) from a temporary storage location such as

a CD or Flash drive onto a location on the same PC, either to the desktop or to document

location.

­ Copy the web folder onto the root folder of XAMP/WAMP I.e.

DRIVEC>>XAMP>>HTDOCS>>WEBFOLDER NAME.

57

­ Copy the database folder onto the database root folder of XAMP/WAMP like thus:

C>>XAMP>>MYSQL>>DATA>>DBASE FOLDER NAME

­ N: B>>means next.

4.5.1 USER GUIDE

The home page of this application contains the links/navigation with which users of the system

can access the other parts of the system. There are two basic users of this system the

Staffs/doctors and patients.

The Doctors/ Staff can:

­ Add patient to the system

­ View all patients

­ Credit a patient account

­ View new mail sent by a patient

­ Send a response to a patient

­ Stock pharmacy

­ View pharmacy

­ Prescribe drugs to patient

The patient can:

­ Consult a doctor by sending a message

58

­ Receive a response from a doctor

­ Buy drugs online

4.6 IMPLEMENTATION

As soon as new system is developed, it would be put into actual use, this is done in order to

ascertain the workability of its components and conformance of the system to its designed

objectives. When implemented users can gain access and make full use of the entire package via

the interfaces provided. So far an online application as this, implementation requires that we

upload the application online; this is necessitated by the fact that users can only use the system if

it is accessible on a network such as the internet. Uploading an application such as this is called

“Web Hosting”. Hosting is the activity of uploading an application onto the internet so it can be

online. When a website is fully hosted online onto a particular host site, it is said to be hosted

onto a domain name. The domain name is the name of the website; it is a uniform resource

locator via which users can retrieve the correct pages of the website when they are online.

Due to the cost in hosting website online today, we could not host the application, but a

prototype offline option was used. This offline option mirrors the activities of the online web

hosting service. It enables an application to be running on a localhost server as a standalone

application i.e. APACHE SERVER. Apache server is a server technology that drives the codes

of the web pages of the website in the localhost network. We also made use of a database

management system i.e. MYSQL database.

59

The application was implemented into windows Vista platform so, considerations have made to

the language of implementation, hence the implementation language has the following features.

I. Facilities for the geographical user interface design (GUI)

II. Object oriented programming (OOP) capability.

III. Database programming application programming interface (API) capability

HARDWARE REQUIREMENT

I. CPU – a core 2 duo processor is recommended

II. Ram – 2GB of RAM is recommended as a lot of requests are being processed

simultaneously

III. Internet – a fast internet connection would be vital to make the project launch

online. This is because the server bandwidth is shared equally between requests

and that means that a narrow internet bandwidth would pose a serious bottleneck

in the application.

IV. Network Interface Cards (NIC) – in this application, a 10/100mbps NIC is

required. But a 100/100mbps NIC is recommended due to the nature of the

application. However, wireless is optional.

60

V. Disk Space – although the MySQL database engine highly optimizes the storage

of data, Disk becomes an issue when the number of requests or sessions increases

into billions, an 80GB hard drive is recommended for this project.

SOFTWRAE REQUIREMENT

The minimum software requirement of the system is as follows

I. Window 2000 an above

II. Internet Browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla­ Firefox, Opera, Safari etc)

III. Flash Plug­in

IV. MySQL Database

V. Apache HTTP Server

VI. Xamp/Wamp application

VII. And any anti­virus program

4.6.1 Software Coding

This is the process that converts the logic design during the programming the program design

state into a set of programming language statements that constitute a computer program.

Depending on the programming language used, coding involves rigorous rules concerning format

and syntax (vocabulary, punctuation, grammar and semantics). Coding must consider all the

good qualities of good including reusability, correctness, etc. It must also apply software

principles like rigor and formality. Types of coding methods include structured coding,

interactive coding and conservative coding.

61

4.6.2 Software testing (verification/validation)

Software testing is the method of debugging and correcting all errors in a program. Where there

are many modules, sometimes written by various programmers, testing includes integrated

testing of all the modules. Program verification is known as debugging and involves checking,

testing with test data, and correction repeated several times so as to remove all errors (bug)

which must be identified and corrected.

Checking of programs usually involves a process called Dry Run. This is the method of

thoroughly checking coding errors, logic errors, and syntax errors on your table before entering

them into the computer. Dry Run also involves physically simulation often brings out logic

errors.

Software validation is the testing of a program that is assumed to be error free with the test data

and life data. It also involves testing the program for performance.

4.6.3 Software Documentation

This is a process that should occur throughout all the other stages of software development. It is

the detailed description of the design, coding method, program logic, specifications etc of a

software. Software documentation is important because it helps the operator and users to

understand the program, know what to do when there is a problem. If documentation is

inadequate or poorly written because it has been prepared in a last minute rush (which is

unfortunately the case most times), people will need more time to learn how to use the system

62

and may never be able to take advantage of its full potential. Documentation also helps other

programmers (or even the original programmer) to understand a package and make program

changes where necessary. A program documentation manual should be assembled to include the

contents below;

I. Program/software specification

II. Program descriptions

III. verification documentation

IV. operations manual

V. maintenance documentation

4.6.4 Software Implementation

This involves the physical installation of fully tested software in the user’s computer system.

During testing, a different computer configuration may have been used and therefore there is

need for compatibility testing during implementation to ensure that the software does what it has

been approved as capable of doing during the testing stage. It is also during implementation that

the actual training of the users is done in terms of the computer operators, data entry operators

and user managers/supervisor to ensure that they are able to operate the system and to understand

the documentation.

4.6.5 Software Maintenance/Evaluation

63

Maintenance refers to the continual revision of a software packages in case there is need for

improvement, updating, expansion and correction of hidden errors. Even if a software is bug­free

it should be reviewed at intervals of say five years for modernizations and improvement.

Maintenance would involve in most cases all the previous phases or software development and

all documentations of such changes should be done. Changes must not be at all random but must

be accumulated and approved before commencement. Evaluation gives users another chance to

provide constructive feedback.

4.6.6 Physical security

Vital to any organization are provisions to ensure the accuracy, security and privacy of both

software and hardware resources. System controls are instituted to make sure data are input,

processes, and output correctly and to prevent data destruction, unauthorized program

modifications, fraud, or any other tampering that might occur. The following recommendations

should be out in place for this system;

I. Locks and alarms should be put on computers and doors to computer rooms: only

personnel’s should enter server rooms and swipe ID cards should be required to

access server rooms.

II. Use of strong passwords for access to confidential programs and data: Strong

passwords are passwords that have at least one non­alphanumeric character, a capital

letter and a numeric character and must have a length of not less than seven

64

characters. This is to ensure that even if the password is overheard, it will still not be

easily comprised. Applying data encryption to disguise secret data: Secret data like

files stored on the server should be encrypted to ensure that even if they are copied,

they will not be accessed without the knowledge of the original owner of those files.

65

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 SUMMARY

As stated in the introduction of this project, the study set out to examine what a web based

hospital management system is all about. The main focus was on a web based hospital

management system, with the shortest possible time of delay,

This project express what a web based hospital management system is all about, it moves a step

closer by integrating medical services to patients irrespective of time or geographic setting. This

makes the project to become a fully functional virtual health care centre or hospital; which

means that the patients can meet doctors online and discuss medical issues or seek solution to

whatever ailment that troubles them, and doctors in turn can then respond to patients problems

and give prescriptions as though they were seeing face to face or rather asked the patient to come

see him physically if the condition is critical.

5.2 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this system has been developed to provide an avenue to display the effectiveness

of a web based hospital management system in producing feasible solutions to the hitches

associated with manual medical systems, although this project is not meant to replace the manual

procedures of diagnosis and high profile medical treatments. Rather it is meant to support it. The

development of the system discourages cases of overdose and abuse of drugs which could stem

66

from indiscriminate purchase of drugs; it also prevents hazards which are associated with self

medication.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION

This system is hereby recommended for central hospital Benin City, health care centers and other

hospitals that wish to ease traffic in the course of rendering medical services to intending patients

both within and outside their geographical area. This web based hospital management system is

recommended for medical institutions alone for which it is created.

It also recommended that, for users to gain access from anywhere, this system should be hosted

on the internet.

67

REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berners­Lee with Mark Fischetti, Weaving the Web:

Eliminating Health Disparities". American Medical Association.

http://www.central­care.org/index.html

http://www.central­care.org/aboutus.html

http://www.central­care.org/healthy­living.html

http://www.central­care.org/patient­care.html

http://www.lk.cs.ucla.edu/personal_history.html. Retrieved 2009­05­28.)

http://www.zend.com/zend/zend­engine­summary.php. Retrieved 2006­09­17.

http://www.neonatology.org/classics/baines.html#note1.

Leonard Kleinrock (2005). The history of the Internet.

Medical Pharmaceutical Information Association (MedPharmInfo)

Medical Practitioners". Eee.uci.edu. Retrieved 2012­04­21.

Principles of System Analysis and Design Franca A. Egbokhare (2006)., Root Print &

Publishers, University of Benin.

The Canon of Medicine" (work by Avicenna)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Retrieved 11

June 2008.

Therapeutics (medicine) ­ Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved

2012­04­21.

Zend Engine version 2.0: Feature Overview and Design". Zend Technologies Ltd.

68

APPENDIX A

(SOURCE CODE LISTING)

69

CONTOLLER

<?php

function getAmount($itm)

$query = "select $itm from patient_record where card_id =

'".$_SESSION["card_id"]."'";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

$rw = mysql_fetch_array($result);

return $rw[0];

// <br>

?>

<form name="form1" method="post" action="">

<table width="105%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0">

<tr>

<td>&nbsp;</td>

<td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><input type="submit" name="buy" id="buy" value="Buy"></td>

<td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr>

70

<tr>

<td width="8%" height="35" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">&nbsp;</td>

<td width="26%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">Drug Name:

<?php

$sql = "select * from drug_tb";

$res = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());

$i=1;

?></td>

<td width="24%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">Price</td>

<td width="42%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><?php

while($rows = mysql_fetch_array($res))

?>&nbsp;</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="right"><?php

echo $i++;

?>&nbsp;

<label>

<input name="buy_now[]" type="checkbox" id="checkbox" value="<?php echo

$rows['drug_id']; ?>">

</label></td>

<td><?php

echo $rows['name_of_drug'];

?>&nbsp;</td>

<td><?php

echo $rows['price'];

?>

&nbsp;</td>

71

<td height="21"><label>

<?php

if(isset($_POST["buy"]))

$buy_now[] = $_POST["buy_now"];

foreach($_POST["buy_now"] as $value)

$query = "insert into i_buy (username, drug_id) VALUES (

'".$_SESSION["card_id"]."', '$value' )";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

if($result)

$amt = $rows['price'];

$mm = getAmount("amount") ­ $amt;

$sql = "update patient_record set amount = '$mm' where card_id =

'".$_SESSION["card_id"]."'";

$resq = mysql_query($sql);

?>

<?php

?>

</label></td>

</tr>

</table>

</form>

<?

72

CONFIG

<?php

$user="root";

$host="127.0.0.1";

$pwd="";

$db="patmgt_db";

mysql_Connect ($host, $user, $pwd) or die('Error, Connection to MySQL Server failed');

mysql_select_db ($db) or die('Error, Connection to database failed');

?>

PATIENT FUNCTION

<?php

//function name = connex

//Task : create connection to db

function connex()

global $link, $dbhost, $dbuser,$dbpassword,$dbname;

($link = mysql_connect("$dbhost", "$dbuser", "$dbpassword" )) || die ("Couldn't connect

to MySQL");

mysql_select_db("$dbname", $link ) or die ("Could not select db" .mysql_error());

// end function connex();

//function name = newstaff

//Task : Register a new User

73

function newstaff($p_hospitallogin, $p_hospitalpwd, $lname, $fname, $oname,

$formerposition)

global $link;

$encryptpassword = md5($_POST["p_hospitalpwd"]);

$currentDate = date( "Y­F­D\ h:ia" );

$query = "INSERT INTO logintble (p_hospitallogin, p_hospitalpwd, lname, fname,

oname, formerposition, datecreated ) VALUES ('$p_hospitallogin', '$encryptpassword', '$lname',

'$fname', '$oname' , '$formerposition', '$currentDate')";

$result = mysql_query($query, $link) or die ("Could not insert info into db"

.mysql_error());

return true;

// end function newstaff

//function name = errormessage

//Task : Hold Error messages

function errormessage($error)

foreach($error as $err)

print("<li>$err</li>\n");

print("</ul>\n");

// end function errormessage

function checkifloggedin($stat)

switch($stat)

case "yeah":

74

if(!isset($_SESSION["p_hospitallogged"]))

header("Location: index.php");

exit;

break;

case"nope":

if(isset($_SESSION["p_hospitallogged"]) && $_SESSION["p_hospitallogged"]

=== true)

header("Location: staff.php");

break;

return true;

// end function checkifloggedin

//function name = checkifloggedin

//Task = check if a user isn't logged in depending on $stat

/*

Password and Login checking function:

This is a simple function that takes the $p_hospitallogin name and

$p_hospitalpwd that a user submits in a form and checks that a

row exists in the database where:

75

*/

function checkinfo($card_id, $patient_username )

global $link;

// $mypwd = md5($_POST["p_hospitalpwd"]);

$sql = "SELECT card_id,patient_username FROM patient_record WHERE card_id= '$card_id'

AND patient_username = '$patient_username'";

$query = mysql_query($sql, $link) or die ("Could not select info from db" .mysql_error());

if(mysql_num_rows($query)==1)

$row = mysql_fetch_array($query);

return $row;

//Bad Login:

return false;

76

APPENDIX B

(SAMPLE OUTPUT AND FORMS)

HOME PAGE

77

78

ADMINISTRATOR CONTROL PANEL

79

PHARMACY AND RECORD OFFICER CONTROL PANEL

80

DOCTOR CONTROL PANEL

81

82

PATIENT MESSAGE AREA

83

APPENDIX C

(PROGRAM FLOWCHART)

84

Database

85

86