A Data Bank for the Clinician?

The capacity of computers to store large quantities of data, rather than sheer power of computation, now permits the development of "data banks" of accumulated clinical experience, and allows rapid and efficient retrieval of this information. In at least three ways, the data bank can provide fundamental assistance to the clinician: by identifying the less productive activities within medicine; by supplying the missing clinical study; and by providing decision support for management of the individual case.Nonproductive activity, defined simply as that which does not contribute to making the patient better and the nation healthier, is prevalent in medicine. Charges . . .