Management issues in automating medical systems

The nontechnical aspects of medical computing systems are as important as the technical. In order to understand why, it is important to consider the social context of systems, the human engineering necessary for medical systems to work, and the specifics of the man-machine interface. It is also necessary to plan for the change which comes with any new method. This paper contains a discussion of these topics, concluding with a set of guidelines for change-management which we feel organizes the data of years of experience into a systematic approach.