AIDA for the automation of the patient history

This article describes the application of a fourth-generation programming package (AIDA) for the construction of an interactive system for history-taking. It is shown that this system has been made very flexible and user-friendly, and that patients can easily answer all questions themselves. Parts of the system, that are supported by AIDA, are an interactive terminal with special, illuminated function keys, a screen driver for the generation and maintenance of 28 different screens, extensive help texts (with 260 help messages), and a report generator. The screens contain altogether 402 questions, through which 434 different answers can be given on 179 different items. The system has been evaluated extensively.