Primay key question (1 Viewer)

[Toolman]

Hello,

I'm brand new to this forum and brand new to Access. Please be gentle . If I am posting incorrectly please let me know.

I gather stats & productivity info for a PT department in a hospital. We also have 4 offsite treatment centers. I collect and store info in a number of Excel workbooks and I felt this was a perfect opportunity to integrate everything in to Access.

I have a spreadsheet or 2 that accumulates data daily, much like "therapist Bob Smith treated 8 patients on 7/14/09 @ location A".

I'm struggling with the primary key concept. I thought the primary key had to be assigned to a list of unique items; eg a list of part numbers would have a unique number for each item. But my list goes on daily with the names repeating over and over again. How do I handle this?

I know this is the most basic of things but I could use your help.

Thanks,
Don

 

[RuralGuy]

Use an AutoNumber as your PrimaryKey for the table.

 

[Toolman]

RuralGuy,

Thanks for responding.

Do I create a new field, such as DrRef, make it Auto Number, and have it as the Primary key?

Thanks again,
Don

 

[boblarson]

RuralGuy,

Thanks for responding.

Do I create a new field, such as DrRef, make it Auto Number, and have it as the Primary key?

Thanks again,
Don

Short answer - yes.

 

[John Big Booty]

That would certainly do the trick.

 

[Toolman]

Thank you all.