Glossary:

Attribute - A single piece of information in a data record.  For example, name
is an attribute of a patient record.

Capital Resources - This is the economist`s definition of capital.  This is 
defined to be any man made resource which aid production; production in this
case being the medical care of various patients.  Capital resources would
include such things as operating theater facilities, office equipment, ward
facilities, admitting facilities and such.

Doctor - A certified MD.

Flag - A notice to the user of some error condition.  This is merely a 
notification that something is wrong.  Think of it as a warning flag going up.

Nurse - A certified RN or BSc Nursing.  Can be either a regular nurse or a
supervising nurse.

HMS - Hospital Management System (the name of the proposed software
system)

Hospital Number - This refers to the patients medical/hospital insurance
number (eg. Alberta Health Care number).  This number can be used to
uniquely identify an individual.

Human Resources - Simply put, this is the hospital's staff.

ICU - intensive care unit

Module - A block of the software system that performs a set of related
functions.  The software system is in fact made up of various modules that
farm out the different tasks.

Operating Room - Also called an operating theater.  This is the room where the
surgical team performs various operations on unwitting patients.

Recovery Room - A special area for patients who have just had surgery.
Special monitoring staff ensure that patients come out of anesthetic without
any problems.  A recovery facility is necessary to ensure that patients do
not develop anesthesia narcosis.

Room - Place where a patient is assigned for the duration of their stay in
the hospital.  A room contains one bed.

Software System - A collection of programs that perform a related set of 
functions.  The HMS is/will be a software system.

Staff Number - A unique number [assigned by the system] to a particular
staff member.  This number can be used to uniquely identify a staff
member.

Syntactically Incorrect Inputs - This condition occurs when the user attempts
to enter say a phone number where a name was expected.

Towel - No self respecting galactic hitch-hiker should be without one.

User - The individual who will actually use the software system.  For example,
it can be said that when you drive a car, you are the user of that car.

User Interface - This is what the users deal with when they use the system.
The interface dictates the way in which the user interacts with the
software system.

Ward - Refers to a particular floor of the hospital that provides a 
specific care-giving function (eg. emergency, cardiac, ICU, etc.)