The Computer and Clinical Judgment

For a number of years it has been predicted that the use of computer technology would result in radical changes in the storage and retrieval of medical data. Only in the past five years, however, have there been major changes in the management of information in medicine. These changes have for the most part been limited to the support of such administrative functions in hospitals as admissions and discharge tracking and census activities; the communication of structured information (for example, laboratory-test orders and results); and the support of such ancillary service functions as scheduling for radiology, the preparation of pharmacy . . .