Database Concepts, What Are Databases Used For? I'm writing this article to answer a few questions as part of my first assignment in a course designed to provide a better understanding of database concepts. There are many types of databases, different database implementations, and different database software applications. So how do all these databases work? I have worked with databases for most of my professional career at various levels. Sometimes as a user, entering data, retrieving information and compiling reports. I also provided service and support to help maintain a database system. More recently, I've been doing both types of tasks. I never stopped to think about what was really going on in the background when I was using these systems. My goal is to learn more about what databases are and how they work. Why will this course be important for my career? The course I'm taking is called Database Concepts. This course and what I learn will be important for my career. My profession, as a PACS administrator, requires me to use and maintain a completely database driven system. PACS stands for Picture Archiving and Communications System. The system receives patient information and diagnostic medical images and stores them. You must be able to query a particular patient and retrieve the images associated with this patient. All patient information is kept in the database, images are stored separately and the database maintains pointers to the images. Understanding how this information is structured is very important. I manipulate this data daily to ensure data integrity. So the more I understand the structure, the better quality of work I can do. This course will also give me a better understanding of whether an MS Access application would work better than some of them. the systems I use today. MS Access is an application that I have at my disposal, but which I do not use. Learning more about Access will help me organize some of the data I currently keep in spreadsheets. Generating reports and running certain trends will help communicate this information to department leadership. The information I take away from this course will be important for my career; the key is to use what I learn! Can Microsoft Access be considered a “business tool?” »"?