[The preoperative outpatient clinic--possible use of a personal computer]

Since 1977, the Department of Anesthesiology of the University of Graz has had a preoperative clinic. Since August 1988 we have processed current data using a personal computer (PC). We have adapted an IBM-compatible PC and a commercial data-processing program (dBase III plus) for the special requirements of the preoperative clinic. The procedure is directed by menus and is also easy to learn for non-professionals. Important functions have been executed automatically by the current program, such as loading the software or securing the data on a floppy disk. No additional work is necessary for data input. Every test result can be supplied immediately by a printer, whereby important parameters are denoted as such. After 13 months of testing, we could see that the use of a PC offers an inexpensive possibility for processing medical data with the help of electronics. The installation was not destined to remain a short trial, but will become a permanent system at our clinic.