When an institution starts to use PLAISIR^© system, it evaluates all its clients.  This evaluation must be obtained in the shortest time possible in order to obtain a picture of the institution's clients at a precise moment in time.  However the number of nurse-evaluators is limited and given that an evaluator can assess 5 to 10 clients per day, obviously it is impossible to evaluate all the clients of an institution on the same day.  Hence, the period of evaluation of an institution varies from a few days to a few weeks.  This does not cause any real problems; as the status of the clients in institutions using the PLAISIR^© system is relatively stable, one can still consider that one has a snapshot of the needs of the institution's clients.  At the end of the evaluation process, one will date, the period of observation in terms of the month and the year for which the majority, if not all, of the evaluations were performed: for example:  06 - 2004.   The same applies for the updating of the data base.

Once a first image of the clients has been obtained, the institution updates it at its convenience.  Different considerations may be taken into account when determining this frequency.  It is more costly to update the data base frequently; however the institution that intensively uses the information of PLAISIR^© at a clinical or administrative level will want an updated image of its clients at all times.  There is no general rule regarding the frequency of updating.  In Quebec, the choice of a frequency is most often agreed upon by all the institutions of a region.  The minimal frequency of updating observed is once a year, the maximum being four times a year, the exception being transition units  (mid stay care units) which may update their PLAISIR^© data base monthly.

When updating, one will not evaluate all the clients, but only those whose status has changed or who have been admitted since the last updating of the data base.  One also takes advantage of the updating to remove from the current data base all the closed files (transferred clients, deaths).

The initial make-up of the data base and its subsequent updating obey strict rules in order to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data.