Data warehouse tools: What they are and how they can enhance drug management activities

Health care organizations have taken advantage of computers to streamline many clinical and operational processes, however, the use of information technology to link and integrate clinical data from multiple sources has not been widely adopted. Clinical data marts and patient registries can improve efficiencies by making data available for complex analyses, effective decision-making, and performance measurements. These automated system can routinely extract the needed data from a database warehouse, integrate the desired clinical and drug data, and generate reports or reminders automatically. Achieving consistent quality health care is recognized as nationwide problem, and the use of automated data reporting systems can be a starting point to help answer critical questions about quality and to improve the outcomes of care.