Development of a Navy Hearing Conservation Management Information System (HECMIS).

Abstract : Due to the lack of an efficient and economical way to obtain essential data from medical records, naval hearing conservation management personnel lack the capability for assessing the adequacy of their programs. A model Hearing Conservation Management Information System (HECMIS) developed for the Navy Environmental Health Center (NEHC), Norfolk should alleviate this problem. The HECMIS, currently undergoing further operational modeling at NEHC, now contains some 19,000 DD-2215 forms and 12.400 DD-2216 forms. It will be used initially by hearing conservation staff at NEHC as a management tool and to disseminate to field activities the information considered necessary for the efficient operation of their hearing conservation programs. When implemented, the HECMIS, in conjunction with microprocessor-controlled group audiometers soon to be acquired for use in Navy hearing conservation programs, will provide reliable hearing data and a means by which Navy hearing conservation management personnel can derive the critical information necessary to determine the adequacy and efficiency of their hearing conservation programs. Originator supplied keywords include: Hearing conservation; Occupational medicine; Hearing testing; Reference and monitoring audiograms; Hearing conservation data base; Management information systems; Microprocessor-controlled audiometers.