Data Handling, Computers and Diagnosis

As quantitative bio-medical science develops, the amount of data to be handled will increase. Already the investigator frequently finds that the analysis of the data he has collected is beyond his computational ability and he is forced to turn to automatic data processing. The bio-medical investigator must have access to a variety of both analog and digital computing equipment if progress is to be made in biomedical research. Automatic data-processing techniques and equipment need to be introduced to the areas of public health and patient care. Projects dealing with medical records, medical literature retrieval, automatic chemical analysis, the recording of signs, symptoms, nurses' notes, etc., must all be tied together in regional medical computing systems as soon as possible. Particular attention must be given to this systematic collection and analysis of medical data before regional computing systems can help physicians with diagnosis and treatment.