Hospital information system and patterns of cancer screening

Relative ease, implied accuracy, and unprecedented possibilities of computerized health care information systems, is very tempting for researchers. Attempts at determining the referral patterns for cancer screening at a large county hospital through the use of computerized administrative and clinical files, and some of the problems encountered is reported here. Only 17% of women over 18, and 16% of women over 50 who visited this hospital were referred and received screening for cervical and breast cancer, respectively. Pap testing was concentrated at clinics dealing with reproductive health, and women with higher visit frequencies had a higher referral rate. Major problems encountered were lack of uniformity in capturing information for similar variables in different files, inconsistency in capturing data elements, and partial coverage. To enhance capabilities of computerized health information system, following principles must be incorporated in the designs: complete coverage, uniform collection of data across time and files, and inclusion of linking capabilities.