Innovations in anesthesia pre-screening through data systems and telecommunications.
In summary, the anesthesia pre-screening concept along with the supporting computer systems allow for fingertip nursing informatics, data collection, and retrievability, providing the continuity of care so emphasized in health care today. Departmental efficiency is maximized in both processing and communicating the patient information for the caregivers through the up-to-the-minute accuracy and safety built into the data system. At this point in APS implementation, the scope of cost-savings has yet to be fully identified, yet the perception is that it is quite substantial. At the same time, recent research results confirm our hypothesis that the personal touch provided by APS phone screening and individual case management has improved patient safety, convenience, and satisfaction along with overall effectiveness. Since the CAPS system will grow in scope and complexity over the next few years, the system will be migrated to a clientserver configuration. Although "client-server" may be an overused term, its potential for improved data accessibility, integrity, and raw processing throughput is great once the field solidifies in this area. The addition of graphical user interfaces and natural language facilities will further enhance the ease of use of the system. In the near term, an on-line version of the Physician's Desk Reference will be added for use during patient calls. This computerized version offers speed as well as a more comprehensive searching ability as opposed to its tree-based cousin.