[Computerized medical records. The experience of the François Baclesse Center]

Information regarding the patient needs to be known before all consultations or treatment. There may only be one medical file in which this information is contained and hence there are problems regarding storage and transport which slow down the diagnostic process and treatment. The replacement of this file on paper by a completely computerised record file (observations, laboratory results, hospital reports) allows instantaneous consultation and access to such a record. For the last two years the traditional paper file has been replaced by more than 130 terminals distributed throughout this establishment. Additional functions may be added (statistics, internal information, etc...).