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A selective patient information system

A patient information system is described in the light of present needs and possibilities. Current medical records shortcomings are in the areas of completeness, organization, timeliness, and retrievability. As part of the solution the use of an on‐line computer system in a Department of Therapeutic Radiology is described. Essentials for success include careful planning and having the medical staff input the data and use the computerized record as part of the patient record, not as a duplicate. Using the information retrievable with the computer to advantage will take research and education, because such information has not been readily available hitherto. Costs of the system are shown to be comparable to current manual record keeping due to recent dramatic improvements in cost‐performance of large mini‐computers. This kind of hardware, together with computer software such as “MUMPS,” has enabled us to enter every patient treated by the department on an on‐line basis since the initiation of the system in early 1972. Refinement of the medical data items is, however, still in progress, pointing up the fact that the start‐up effort of a computerized patient information system is only a small part of the work required to make it truly useful in the long run. Cancer 33:1653–1663, 1974.