Scaling a data retrieval and mining application to the enterprise-wide level

Abstract

Most medical institutions have had difficulty in adopting practices that use stored clinical and administrative data effectively. This stems in part from the lack of available tools to easily and accurately retrieve datasets of interest. In this work, we describe the development of a data retrieval and mining application, Goldminer, which allows authorized personnel at our institution to query clinical and demographic data stores through a graphical, non-programmer interface. It builds upon DXtractor, our previously described tool that retrieves data from a smaller, more specialized dataset. We discuss the difficulties encountered in scaling this application to the enterprise-wide level, and our solutions.