Need for standards in medical communication.

Recent progress in clinical informatics resulted in two new tools: a comprehensive medical nomenclature and a prototype medical text processor. The direction of further progress is apparent. The technology is ready for large-scale computerization of health care documentation. The new progress-limiting factors seem to be related to the reorientation of the record writers and the entire health care industry. The true challenge of the 1990s is to make clinical data readily available, without jeopardizing the cherished values of medical data confidentiality and provider privacy.