The COIN workstation: state of the future art

This is a description of the clinical workstation now under development by the Clinical Oncology Information Network (COIN) Project at the Clinical Oncology Centre, North Middlesex Hospital, London, UK. It comprises: introduction; background; technical requirements; design; what the workstation does; how the workstation does it; future plans; glossary; and 26 figures showing screen shots of the workstation in use. The following article sets out the guidance on the creation of evidence-linked guidelines issued to the COIN Specialty Working Groups charged in 1995 with producing clinical guidelines for breast, colorectal, lung, prostate and testicular cancer and generic guidelines for the delivery of radio- and chemotherapy on behalf of the Faculty of Clinical Oncology of The Royal College of Radiologists and the Joint Council for Clinical Oncology. The first of these guidelines, for lung cancer, is published elsewhere in this issue.