Design an ER model for a hospital management system. Identify entities like patients, doctors, appointments, and rooms. Define the relationships between these entities.
The correct answer and explanation is :
To design an Entity-Relationship (ER) model for a Hospital Management System, we need to identify key entities, their attributes, and relationships among them. Below is a structured ER model for the system:
Entities and Attributes:
- Patient
- Attributes: PatientID (Primary Key), Name, DateOfBirth, Gender, Address, ContactInfo, EmergencyContact
- Doctor
- Attributes: DoctorID (Primary Key), Name, Specialty, ContactInfo, AvailabilitySchedule
- Appointment
- Attributes: AppointmentID (Primary Key), AppointmentDate, PatientID (Foreign Key), DoctorID (Foreign Key), RoomID (Foreign Key), Diagnosis, TreatmentPlan
- Room
- Attributes: RoomID (Primary Key), RoomType (e.g., ICU, General), RoomNumber, Capacity
- Treatment
- Attributes: TreatmentID (Primary Key), TreatmentName, TreatmentDescription, Cost
- Prescription
- Attributes: PrescriptionID (Primary Key), PrescriptionDate, PatientID (Foreign Key), DoctorID (Foreign Key), MedicineDetails, DosageInstructions
Relationships:
- Patient to Appointment:
- One-to-Many relationship (One patient can have many appointments).
- Cardinality: 1:N
- Relationship Name: “Schedules” (A patient schedules appointments).
- Doctor to Appointment:
- One-to-Many relationship (A doctor can handle multiple appointments).
- Cardinality: 1:N
- Relationship Name: “Assigned to” (A doctor is assigned to appointments).
- Appointment to Room:
- Many-to-One relationship (Each appointment is associated with one room).
- Cardinality: N:1
- Relationship Name: “Held in” (An appointment is held in a specific room).
- Patient to Prescription:
- One-to-Many relationship (One patient can have multiple prescriptions).
- Cardinality: 1:N
- Relationship Name: “Receives” (A patient receives prescriptions).
- Doctor to Prescription:
- One-to-Many relationship (A doctor can provide multiple prescriptions).
- Cardinality: 1:N
- Relationship Name: “Writes” (A doctor writes prescriptions for patients).
- Appointment to Treatment:
- Many-to-Many relationship (An appointment can have multiple treatments, and a treatment can be associated with multiple appointments).
- Cardinality: M:N
- Relationship Name: “Includes” (An appointment includes a treatment).
Explanation:
In the ER model, the Patient entity stores personal information and is linked to Appointments which represent the patient’s scheduled visits. Each Appointment connects to a Doctor, representing the doctor assigned to that appointment, and also to a Room where the consultation occurs. The Prescription entity links a Patient and a Doctor to document the medication prescribed during a visit.
The Treatment entity stores information about different medical procedures or treatments that can be linked to appointments. Each appointment may include one or more treatments, represented by a Many-to-Many relationship between Appointment and Treatment.
The cardinality of relationships reflects real-world scenarios: A patient can schedule many appointments, but each appointment can only be assigned to one doctor and held in one room. Multiple prescriptions can be provided to a patient, and a doctor may write many prescriptions. The Treatment entity allows tracking of various medical treatments per appointment, ensuring comprehensive care.
This ER model ensures that all critical hospital functions—patient registration, appointment scheduling, doctor-patient interactions, and treatment tracking—are systematically captured and interlinked.
