Computerized decision-making in the pulmonary function laboratory

Computers are now in widespread use in pulmonary function laboratories, where they have made an important contribution by assisting with complex and repetitive tasks. They can be used to acquire data from testing instruments, make measurements and calculations, and prepare reports. At LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, we use the HELP (Health Evaluation through Logical Processing) Computer System for medical decision-making. As a result of our experience with this system, we have found six definable steps between data acquisition and data interpretation: (1) establish quality instrumentation, (2) establish adequate procedures for test performance, (3) standardize measurement and computational techniques, (4) determine the adequacy and reproducibility of results and apply a test selection, (5) identify the measurements to be used for interpretation, and (6) apply strategies that lead to consistent interpretation of results. Because spirometry and blood gas tests account for the major activities of our pulmonary function laboratory, we have applied these six steps necessary for computer decision-making to these two two tests; however, they are equally applicable to other tests in the pulmonary function laboratory.