The Southern Alberta Renal Program database: a prototype for patient management and research initiatives

The Southern Alberta Renal Program (SARP) database was developed to respond to an urgent need for local information on clinical outcomes, laboratory i nformation, and health care costs, and to enable our local renal program to monitor the implementation of established clinical practice guidelines. Th e database captures detailed demographic, clinical, and laboratory informat ion and is unique by also capturing comorbidity, health-related quality of life and costing information for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESR D) in southern Alberta, storing the information in one common database. By collecting information on patient comorbidity, health outcomes and costs, t he SARP database has enabled many quality assurance initiatives as well as research opportunities for projects involving patients with ESRD. Due to th e availability of links with other available local clinical and administrat ive databases, information is collected with a minimal need for manual data entry. This type of database is a method by which health programs could im prove the quality of patient care. Programs caring for patients with chroni c medical conditions such as ESRD should examine how computer databases cou ld assist in clinical care and improve the efficiency with which that care is delivered to their patients.