EDP in primary health care in Finland

The development of edp-based information systems for primary health care started in Finland during the 1970's. Now several different systems are available. Because there are different types of organisations, the need for information systems also differ. The use of an edp-system may also be seen from different purposes. Nearly all systems which are in use today handle patient information and administrational data. The use of computers in diagnosis or in supporting other medical knowledge is still very limited in everyday care. Different types of systems are described in this article.