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To develop a technique for recognizing critical situations based on laboratory results in settings in which a normal range cannot be defined, because what is "normal" differs widely from patient to patient. To assess the potential of this approach for kidney transplant recipients, where recognition of acute rejections is based on the pattern of changes in serum creatinine.

The annual cost of morbidity and mortality due to medication errors in the U.S. has been estimated at $76.6 billion. Information technology implemented systematically has the potential to significantly reduce medication errors that result in adverse drug events (ADEs).

Learning anatomy and surgical procedures requires both a conceptual understanding of three-dimensional anatomy and a hands-on manipulation of tools and tissue. Such virtual resources are not available widely, are expensive, and may be culturally disallowed. Simulation technology, using high-performance computers and graphics, permits realistic real-time display of anatomy. Haptics technology supports the ability to probe and feel this virtual anatomy through the use of virtual tools. The Internet permits world-wide [...]

The MediPlus database collects anonymized information from generalpractice computer systems in the United Kingdom, for research purposes. Data quality markers are collated and fed back to the participating general practitioners. The authors examined whether this feedback had a significant effect on data quality.

The AMIA Annual Symposium began life as the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care (SCAMC) in 1977. Inaugurated as a multidisciplinary meeting with multiple sponsors, the Symposium quickly became a force in the development of the field of medical informatics. The authors summarize the 25-year history of the meeting and its proceedings, drawing on information in the printed programs and proceedings and on the personal recollections of some Symposium [...]

To develop methods that automatically map abbreviations to their full forms in biomedical articles.

Electronic communication among clinicians and patients is becoming an essential part of medical practice. Evaluation and selection of these electronic systems, called personal clinical electronic communication (PCEC) systems, can be a difficult task in institutions that have no prior experience with such systems. It is particularly difficult in the clinical context. To directly address this point, the authors consulted a group of potential users affiliated with a nationally recognized telemedicine [...]

Despite an increasing movement toward shared decision making and the incorporation of patients' preferences into health care decision making, little research has been done on the development and evaluation of support systems that help clinicians elicit and integrate patients' preferences into patient care. This study evaluates nurses' use of CHOICE, a handheld-computer-based support system for preference-based care planning, which assists nurses in eliciting patients' preferences for functional performance at the [...]