Clinical Information Systems

The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the TradeMarks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone. While the advice and information of this book is believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to material contained herein. As its name implies, this book deals with clinical information systems. The clinical information system (or CIS) is an automated system with a long term database containing clinical information used for patient care. This definition excludes business systems (no clinical data), physiological monitoring systems (no long term database), and many research systems (not used in patient care). The theses of this book are (a) that CIS technology is mature, (b) that the CIS will have a major impact upon patient care and the health delivery system, and (c) that the number of commercial systems which now offer these potential benefits is very small. The objective of this book is to establish the above theses and thereby (a) inform both users and developers, (b) increase the demand for more sophisticated products, and finally, (c) provide marketplace incentives to advance the state of the art. The CIS is an application of computer technology for a specific class of problems. Its development requires a knowledge of the technology with an understanding of the application area. As with any tool-based application, the scope of the product will be limited by the capability of the tool. In the case of the CIS, reliable computers with comprehensive database facilities became commercially available in the early 1970s. By the mid 1970s there was a maturation of the literature, and evaluations of 5-years' use began to appear. As will be shown, there have been surprisingly few new ideas introduced since the 1970s Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 History of Computers....Pages 3-32 Computers and Health Care....Pages 33-68 Front Matter....Pages 69-69 Overview of Hardware and Software....Pages 71-111 Programming Languages....Pages 112-149 Data Bases....Pages 150-180 System Implementation....Pages 181-213 Front Matter....Pages 215-215 Hospital Information Systems....Pages 217-251 Ambulatory Care Systems....Pages 253-293 Medical Decision Making....Pages 294-340 A Case Study....Pages 341-373 Epilogue....Pages 375-377 Back Matter....Pages 379-414