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Improving access to computer-based library and drug information services in patient-care areas.

A project to increase access to drug and biomedical information through electronic linkage of drug information and library services to three patient-care areas is described. In February 1987, microcomputer work stations were installed in the Bexar County Hospital District's hospital emergency department, medical residents' office, and ambulatory-care clinic, as well as in The University of Texas Health Science Center's library reference area and drug information service office. Drug information was available on compact disk through the Micromedex Computerized Clinical Information System (CCIS) database, which includes DRUGDEX, POISINDEX, EMERGINDEX, and IDENTIDEX. Each work station was also connected to the library's computer via modem, allowing access to the Library Information System, books, journals, audiovisual materials, miniMEDLINE, and an electronic mail system. During the six-month project, the system was used 5487 times by 702 people. The system was successful in providing drug and other information in clinical settings and in introducing clinical staff members to new information technology. To increase access to the system after the project ended, the CD-ROM version was discontinued, and the distributed tape version of CCIS for VAX computers was added to the library's online information system, making drug information more available throughout the campus and teaching hospitals. In 1988-89 an average of 200 people accessed the tape version of CCIS each month. Although it is difficult to replace the convenience of an onsite library, at least some drug and biomedical information needs in the clinical setting can be met through computer networking.

Computer Communication Networks

MEDLINE, cancer-CD, SCI-CD addition on CD-ROM.

Compact Disc Read-Only-Memory, CD-ROM, is a powerful resource which combines the best features of both online and print access to the literature: multiple access points and leisurely browsing (online accessibility without a modem or without its cost). Applied to the MEDLINE database, this technology has created a brand new market, one which is increasingly competitive and therefore evolving rapidly. Five MEDLINE and two non-MEDLINE products are reviewed. The MEDLINE products include: BRS/COLLEAGUE DISC, Compact Cambridge, Ebsco's Core MEDLINE, Online Research System's Compact Med-Base, and SilverPlatter's MEDLINE on CD-ROM. The two other products include: Institute for Scientific Information's SCI CD Edition and SilverPlatter's CANCER-CD. The market is still wide open and the buyer is wise to try before he buys. However, there are great differences between the various packagings of a rather familiar product. In our view, in terms of ease of use, SilverPlatter was the clear winner. Ebsco's product is attractive because of its containment on one CD. Med-Base is the most original and offers special features not found elsewhere. Finally, personal preference is a strong consideration and should not be overlooked.

MEDLARS

Accessing the biomedical literature: the South Dakota Med-Fax Network.

Librarians developed a plan for a medical information network based upon the needs of South Dakota physicians as revealed in a 1984 survey. The South Dakota Med-Fax Network received private funding in 1987 and became operational in 1988. The Network incorporates interactive simultaneous remote on-line database searching (ISRS) and telefacsimile transmission to expedite the identification and delivery of medical literature to South Dakota physicians. At present, the Network is composed of sixteen institutional sites. Individual physicians may establish their own sites if they provide an IBM compatible personal computer with a modem and purchase a telecommunications software package. The Network will provide training and follow-up support. Use patterns to date demonstrate that telefacsimile transmission is instrumental in reducing significantly the time necessary to deliver journal literature and that ISRS searching is the method of choice in the Network's remote sites.

Humans

Computer-based patient monitoring systems. Use in research and clinical practice.

The use of new technologies, such as computers, in the management of diabetes has changed dramatically over the past decade. The development of the memory-based reflectance meter, telephone modems for the transmission of self-monitored blood glucose, and computer programs to aggregate and analyze data have significantly altered approaches to diabetes care. The clinical application of these systems is just now being evaluated. Initial data suggest that these systems enhance treatment, improve patient performance, assist in collection and representation of accurate and reliable data, and may be associated with improved metabolic control.

Blood Glucose

Using microcomputer telecommunications.

The field of computers and communication is rapidly growing. Microcomputer telecommunications is a fairly simple new tool that can increase productivity and improve work skills. For those who have access to a microcomputer, the cost to add telecommunication capability is minimal while the payoff is unlimited. The next time you need an article about a particular topic or try to remember where you read a particular article, make travel plans or write a letter to a colleague in another state, think how easy it would be with your microcomputer and a modem.

Computer Communication Networks

[Participation in a simple large-scale randomized trial organized by EORTC through an international computer network].

Case registration and treatment allocation was achieved in a "Simple large-scale trial against colorectal cancer" designed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) using an international computer network system VENUS-P. The access to the central computer "EuroCODE" was obtained by simple equipment including ordinary microcomputer, modem and telephone line. Subscription to the KDD data network VENUS-P using a Packet Assembler/Disassembler (PAD) was necessary to connect to the EuroCODE. Intraoperative patient registration and allocation of treatment were possible through this system regardless of the time difference between countries. To organize a large-scale trial as a means to detect moderate but medically worthwhile treatment differences, this method proved to be particularly effective especially for international cooperative studies.

Colonic Neoplasms

Computer-assisted instruction: a library service for the community teaching hospital.

This paper reports on five years of experience with computer-assisted instruction (CAI) at Winthrop-University Hospital, a major affiliate of the SUNY at Stony Brook School of Medicine. It compares CAI programs available from Ohio State University and Massachusetts General Hospital (accessed by telephone and modem), and software packages purchased from the Health Sciences Consortium (MED-CAPS) and Scientific American (DISCOTEST). The comparison documents one library's experience of the cost of these programs and the use made of them by medical students, house staff, and attending physicians. It describes the space allocated for necessary equipment, as well as the marketing of CAI. Finally, in view of the decision of the National Board of Medical Examiners to administer the Part III examination on computer (the so-called CBX) starting in 1988, the paper speculates on the future importance of CAI in the community teaching hospital.

Computer-Assisted Instruction

Bringing the medical literature to physicians. Self-service computerized bibliographic retrieval.

Seven years ago physicians at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston began doing their own searches of the medical literature. They used PaperChase, a computer program written especially for end users rather than for search librarians. The data base was initially limited to the journals shelved in the library of the Beth Israel Hospital, but it has since been expanded to include the entire MEDLINE collection of the National Library of Medicine-nearly 5 million references published in 3,400 biomedical journals dating back to 1966.PaperChase is now available throughout the United States and Canada to anyone who has a computer terminal or personal computer and a modem. No special training is needed for a successful search and there is no user's manual. Users can search by title word, "medical subject heading," author's name, journal title, year of publication, language of publication or any combination of the above. They can read abstracts on line, and they can request that a photocopy of the full text of any article be mailed to them.

Canada

Outpatient computer-based 32-hour esophageal pH studies teletransmitted to a central esophageal laboratory.

Using a computer-based 32-hour esophageal pH system with a small patient-worn digital recording computer, outpatient studies are performed in the physiologic environment of the patient's workplace and home. Samples are taken at 15-s intervals, and the pH data stored in this computer are then fed into the main computer in the Central Esophageal Laboratory for analysis, scoring, printing out, and storage. Satellite esophageal laboratories located in regional hospitals, clinics, and physicians' offices conduct pH studies by telecommunication, using antimony electrodes, a recording computer, and a modem to transmit data to the main computer for high-quality computer analysis. One main computer and associated personnel serve multiple satellite stations. This maintains patient-physician relationships and is highly cost-effective.

Computers

Clinical application of a second generation electrocardiographic computer program.

An electrocardiographic computer program based on multivariate analysis of orthogonal leads (Frank) was applied to records transmitted daily by telephone from the Veterans Administration Hospital, West Roxbury, Mass., to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Washington, D. C. A Bayesian classification procedure was used to compute probabilities for all diagnostic categories that might be encountered in a given record. Computer results were compared with interpretations of conventional 12 lead tracings. Of 1,663 records transmitted, 1,192 were selected for the study because the clinical diagnosis in these cases could be firmly established on the basis of independent, nonelectrocardiographic information. Twenty-one percent of the records were obtained from patients without evidence of cardiac disease and 79 percent from patients with various cardiovascular illnesses. Diagnostic electrocardiographic classifications were considered correct when in agreement with documented clinical diagnoses. Of the total sample of 1,192 recordings, 86 percent were classified correctly by computer as compared with 68 percent by conventional 12 lead electrocardiographic analysis. Improvement in diagnostic recognition by computer was most striking in patients with hypertensive cardiovascular disease or chronic obstructive lung disease. The multivariate classification scheme functioned most efficiently when a problem-oriented approach to diagnosis was simulated. This was accomplished by a simple method of adjusting prior probabilities according to the diagnostic problem under consideration.

Analysis of Variance

Simple method for computer-aided analysis of echocardiograms.

The use of echocardiography in the diagnosis and assessment of heart disease is increasing as greater familiarity is obtained with this noninvasive procedure. Quantitative evaluation of echocardiographic studies has heretofore required time-consuming manipulation of mathematical formulas. A simple method utilizing a sonic digitizing tablet has been developed for computer-aided analysis of M-mode echocardiograms. This device can convert a point located manually with a digitizing pen into X and Y coordinates and with use of the standard telephone network can communicate on a time-shared basis with a DECSYSTEM-10 computer. A program has been written to compute and type the results of standard calculations involving mitral valve motion and left ventricular function. The information can also be stored on disk by the computer for future use. This simple, relatively inexpensive system is valuable because of the ease with which it permits usually laboriously obtained information to be extracted from the standard echocardiogram.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted

Impact of field-transmitted electrocardiography on time to in-hospital thrombolytic therapy in acute myocardial infarction.

To assess the impact of a field-transmitted electrocardiogram (ECG) on patients with possible acute myocardial infarction, randomized and open trials were performed with a portable electrocardiographic system coupled with a cellular phone programmed to automatically transmit ECGs to the base hospital. Consecutive patients served by the 6 units of the Salt Lake City Emergency Rescue System were studied; 71 patients were randomized to in-field ECG (n = 34) versus no ECG (n = 37). Time on scene was 16.4 +/- 9.7 minutes for the ECG group versus 16.1 +/- 7.0 minutes for the non ECG group (difference not significant). Time of transport averaged 18.2 +/- 9.9 and 17.6 +/- 13.1 minutes, respectively (difference not significant). Six of 34 patients with in-field ECG showed acute myocardial infarction, qualified for and received thrombolytic therapy at 48 +/- 12 minutes after hospital arrival (range 30 to 60) compared with 103 +/- 44 minutes (p less than 0.01) for 51 historical control patients and 68 +/- 29 minutes for 6 concurrent control patients without in-field ECG. Thus, in-field ECG causes negligible delays in paramedic time, leads to significant decreases in time to in-hospital thrombolysis and may make in-field therapy feasible. In-field ECG may be an important addition to reperfusion strategies.

Allied Health Personnel

Detection of preterm labor by ambulatory monitoring of uterine activity for the management of oral tocolysis.

A study to evaluate whether ambulatory tocodynamometry at home could enhance the management of oral tocolysis was performed. On discharge from the hospital, after completing parenteral tocolysis, 60 patients received a lightweight tocodynamometer, designed for storage and transmission of uterine activity data. Sixty additional contemporary patients, who were matched for maternal age, parity, and risk factors, served as a control group. In addition to instructions regarding self-detection of recurrent preterm labor, monitored patients recorded uterine activity for greater than or equal to 200 min/day and then transmitted the data to the study center. Tocolytic dosage was adjusted to maintain mean uterine contraction frequency of less than 4/hr. Persistent uterine contractions of greater than or equal to 4/hr lead to in-hospital evaluation for recurrent preterm labor. The results indicate that the monitored group had a lower incidence of preterm births mostly because of a decrease in the proportion of patients with failed tocolysis. It is suggested that surveillance of uterine activity at home during oral treatment for preterm labor may be instrumental in improving perinatal outcome in high-risk patients.

Adult