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Refine the understanding of the desirable skills for health sciences librarians as a basis for developing a training program model that reflects the fundamental changes in health care delivery and information technology.

To assess the practicality of an automated computer interview as a method to assess preferences for use in decision making. To assess preferences for outcomes of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its treatment.

The Read Thesaurus (Version 3 of the Read Codes) is a controlled medical vocabulary produced during the Clinical Terms Projects with the involvement of over 2,000 health care professionals from all United Kingdom specialties. In addition to allowing the transfer of clinical information in a meaningful way, it supports analysis of this information and provides a basis for the development of shareable medical knowledge bases. The thesaurus includes a comprehensive [...]

A national survey conducted for the Office of Rural Health Policy in 1995 identified 558 participants in rural telemedicine; 499 (89%) responded to a detailed follow-up survey to describe type of use. While 84% of respondents reported using interactive video, only 25% reported access to e-mail for exchange of data. The challenge to medical informatics is to connect dispersed providers, not just with videoconferencing, but also with other information-sharing methods.

Clinical trials today typically are inefficient, paper-based operations. Poor community physician awareness of available trials and difficult referral mechanisms also contribute to poor accrual. The Physicians Research Network (PRN) web was developed for more efficient trial protocol distribution and eligibility inquiries. The Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center trials program and two community oncology practices served as a testbed. In 581 man-hours over 18 months, 147 protocols were [...]

Telemedicine is being used by physicians at the member hospitals of the Jefferson Cancer Network (JCN) for consultations regarding the diagnosis and management of cancer patients. The technology employed for this telemedicine system was chosen to meet three related specifications: low capital and operating cost, internal maintainability by community hospital data processing staffs, and compatibility with the existing technologic infrastructure. The solution selected is the ubiquitous desktop personal computer and [...]

The Interactive Home Health Care Program is a demonstration project evaluating the use of in-home telemedicine to provide health care for elderly and disabled people. Local cable systems interconnect a base station staffed by a telemedicine nurse with a modified television in the home. Six months into the project, 38 patients are being cared for at three sites in rural Kansas. Individual patient profiles show improvement. Technical and social challenges [...]

The growing public interest in health and wellness information stems from many sources, including social changes related to consumers' rights and women's health movements, and economic changes brought about by the managed health care revolution. Public, hospital, and medical center libraries have been ill-equipped to meet the increasing need for consumer-oriented materials, even though a few notable programs have been established. The "Information Superhighway" could be an effective tool for [...]

The definition of health information is growing to include multimedia audio, video, and high-resolution still images. This article describes the telemedicine program at East Carolina University School of Medicine, including the telemedicine applications presently in use and the virtual reality applications currently under development' Included are the major design criteria that shape the telemedicine network some of the lessons learned in developing the network, and a discussion of the future [...]