The computerization of the patient education process

This article describes an on-line computer system developed to provide indexing, order entry, and documentation of patient education materials. The system offers an index of all materials, patient data, an ordering system, and a documentation system. Other features of the system include annotated briefs of each indexed material, on-line inventory records and the capability of generating summation reports. The system was developed with input from nursing staff members and revised as needed to improve its user-friendliness and the documentation capabilities.