Managing clinical research information: a case study in information access, presentation, and analysis

Medical information systems at the NIH must meet the twin challenges of excellent patient care and innovative clinical research. This article describes the approach taken by the clinical center at the NIH to enhance its information systems to meet these challenges. The four key components of this strategy are the standard clinical desktop, the clinical data repository, the repository access package, and protocol mapping. Together, these tools provide significant new capabilities for patient care staff and clinical investigators.