Using spreadsheets in a medical department

Abstract

Within some areas of the pharmaceutical industry, a view persists that certain types of software packages are unique to marketing/sales departments and that there are other quite different systems peculiar to medical departments. Spreadsheets are associated with data processing by marketing personnel while it is supposed that a medical department uses only text retrieval software or database management systems. Such an assumption is not totally unjustified. The type of data and the manner in which they are to be processed dictate which software package is the most appropriate for a given situation. The bulk of the information handled by medical departments usually contains long strings of text whereas marketing data tends to be mostly numerical. Nevertheless, there are areas within both environments where it is expedient to consider alternative strategies for information management.

Citation

Blakeman, K. (1988), "Using spreadsheets in a medical department", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb051079