A system for clinical data management

Abstract

The application of computers to the delivery of patient care is more a problem of "data management" than of "data processing." Although calculations and interpretation of data are often required, of much greater concern are the problems involved in the collection, communication, coordination, and presentation of information. As the process of delivery of medical care becomes increasingly complex, and involves increasing numbers of professional and nonprofessional personnel, responsibility for achieving the continuity and comprehensiveness that is essential to medical care seems to rest heavily on the development of appropriate computer-based data management systems. Such systems may further provide the primary feasible means by which quality control, auditing of the medical care process, and research into the diagnosis and treatment of disease can be achieved.