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From my viewpoint as a patient, 1. Medical knowledge has expanded to the point that individuals cannot adequately improve quality without the assistance of computer programs. 2. The medical profession must concentrate on why and how computer program projects must be used, not on why they cannot be used. 3. The successful application of computer programs to clinical medicine is dependent mainly on the efforts of individual institutions and people [...]

With the advent of hospital payment by diagnosis-related group (DRG), length of stay (LOS) has become a major issue in hospital efforts to control costs. Because the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC) has had above-average LOSs for many DRGs, the authors tested the hypothesis that a computer-generated informational message directed to physicians would shorten LOS.

To develop a representational schema for clinical data for use in exchanging data and applications, using a collaborative approach.

Interactive laserdiscs are of limited value in large group learning situations due to the expense of establishing multiple workstations. The authors implemented an alternative to laserdisc video by using indexed digital video combined with an expert system. High-quality video was captured from a laserdisc player and combined with waveform audio into an audio-video-interleave (AVI) file format in the Microsoft Video-for-Windows environment (Microsoft Corp., Seattle, WA). With the use of an [...]

Develop a prototype expert system for preterm birth risk assessment of pregnant women. Normal gestation involves a term of 40 weeks, but because 8-12% of the newborns in the United States are delivered prior to 37 weeks' gestation, problems associated with prematurity continue to plague individuals, families, and the health care system.

To examine the information needs of health care professionals in HIV-related clinical encounters, and to determine the suitability of existing information sources to address those needs.

A picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is an electronic and ideally filmless information system for acquiring, sorting, transporting, storing, and electronically displaying medical images. PACS have developed rapidly and are in operation in a number of hospitals. Before widespread adoption of PACSs can occur, however, their cost-effectiveness must be proven. This article introduces the basic components of a PACS. The current PACS cost-analysis literature is reviewed. Some authors conclude [...]