Clinical patient management and the integrated health information system

Emerging progress in clinical applications of patient care computing is identified. The essential clinical skill is understanding what data are appropriate in any given patient care situation and extracting enough information to make the correct management decision. The value of the computer has less to do with the internal intellectual process of diagnosis than its contribution to the more manifest actions in support of clinical patient management. Techniques with which the computer is assisting in improving the clinical decisionmaking process are reviewed, and a mechanism to link them to active patient care settings is described. In addition, a trend toward the integration of various independent subsystems, so that expensive resources can be optimized for patient needs, is noted.