Topic:    Introduction to Databases

Presenter: PATRICK O'CARROLL. m.d., m.p.h., f.a.c.p.m.

Objectives:

• To explain the purpose of database management systems

• To define key database management terms

• To understand relational databases and their components

• To be able to describe good database design practices

Introduction:

This module will start with looking at the notion of "database" and consider the simple relational database model of tables. One popular way to design a database is through ER diagrams, and we look at a sample diagram. Though it is important to have some basic understanding of the relational schema, in practice most users take advantage of a higher level language for retrieving information from a database with SQL (Structured Query Language) as a common example. Finally, we motivate the use of any popular relational database system to follow-on with this introductory module of databases.

This project is a joint effort of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine
and the United States Centers for Disease Control. It is an approved project.