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Java, a new object-oriented computing language related to C++, is receiving considerable attention due to its use in creating network-sharable, platform-independent software modules (known as "applets") that can be used with the World Wide Web. The Web has rapidly become the most commonly used information-retrieval tool associated with the global computer network known as the Internet, and Java has the potential to further accelerate the Web's application to medical problems [...]

This case study details the set-up and implementation of the PathNet autocoder (Cerner Corporation) in a busy anatomic pathology laboratory. After initial start-up, procedures were developed to improve the system's performance. Four classes of software coding errors were identified, and an index was developed to measure the number of cases between errors (CBE). Through modifications in the program, the CBE increased sharply by the end of the six-month study period [...]

To examine the relationships among different performance scores for each of four diagnostic decision support systems (DDSSs).

To investigate a new approach for query expansion based on retrieval feedback. The first objective in this study was to examine alternative query-expansion methods within the same retrieval-feedback framework. The three alternatives proposed are: expansion on the MeSH query field alone, expansion on the free-text field alone, and expansion on both the MeSH and the free-text fields. The second objective was to gain further understanding of retrieval feedback by examining [...]

The National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Male data set consists of digital magnetic resonance (MR), computed tomography (CT), and anatomic images derived from a single male cadaver. The data set is 15 gigabytes in size and is available from the National Library of Medicine under a no-cost license agreement. The history of the Visible Human Male cadaver and the methods and technology to produce the data set are described.

To examine the issues involved in mapping an existing structured controlled vocabulary, the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) developed at Columbia University, to an institutional vocabulary, the laboratory and pharmacy vocabularies of the Yale New Haven Medical Center.

To evaluate user satisfaction, correlates of satisfaction, and self-reported usage patterns regarding physician order entry (POE) in one hospital.

The peer-review organizations (PROs) were created by Congress in 1984 to monitor the cost and quality of care received by Medicare beneficiaries. In order to do this, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) contracted with the PROs through a series of contracts referred to as "Scopes of Work." Under the Fourth Scope of Work, the HCFA initiated the Health Care Quality Improvement Program (HCQIP) in 1990, as an application of [...]

Some observers feel that the federal government should play a more active leadership role in educating the medical community and in coordinating and encouraging a more rapid and effective implementation of clinically relevant applications of wide-area networking. Other people argue that the private sector is recognizing the importance of these issues and will, when the market demands it, adopt and enhance the telecommunications systems that are needed to produce effective [...]