Clinical information systems

Clinical information systems are the computer and information systems used by health care personnel to facilitate patient care. These systems have evolved from financial systems to true patient care systems with variable levels of functionality. Early systems provided laboratory and radiology results, and modern systems now provide copies of the radiology images and decision support for therapeutic orders. The rapidly changing technological infrastructure has created barriers to implementation of the electronic medical record, while coding schemes continue to be refined to enable data access and aggregate data analysis. Further refinement of clinical information systems is required before the potential value of these systems is realized in the clinical management of patients.