Research and quality control in natural family planning with relational database systems

Research and quality control in natural family planning (NFP) is based on continuous data collection in prospective studies. The quality of the data is determined by the reliability of collection, input, management, and retrieval. During a period of ten years, different relational databases were programmed to manage the large number of very different data in NFP studies. Recently, all experience with different database systems has been summarized by writing and testing a completely new data management system based on MS Access 97: NFPDAT 1.0. This new software is used for data collection, evaluation and administration in NFP Study Groups. Over 200 internal formulae guarantee maximum data consistency while 30 000 cycles from 1477 patients were stored. Easy data evaluation for research and administration is possible with the help of a new report generator even without prior knowledge of SQL (System Query Language) or Visual Basic for MS Access 97. Using this method, interim results for research and quality control can be obtained at any time. NFPDAT can be used by all Natural Family Planning Study Groups using the symptothermal method for research and administration. With the help of NFPDAT, various prospective studies of Natural Family Planning were conducted.