Computerized data management as an aid to clinical decision making in rehabilitation medicine

A computerized data-base management system has been developed as a basis for clinical decision making in rehabilitation. The system allows efficient entry, storage, manipulation, and retrieval of patient performance data. With every new entry all previous entries can be displayed. Thus, identification of trends or rapid changes is far easier than perusing data entered into the hospital chart in a conventional way. The system also allows rapid review of all data entries of the entire rehabilitation team by any individual member. Additionally, correlation of variables can be obtained easily. Use of this system facilitates discontinuation of ineffective programs and identification of complications, thereby reducing hospital stay and cost.