Computer-based consultation in "care" of the critically ill patient

Despite far-reaching progress in all areas of surgery, methods of medical data analysis and communication have not kept pace with the increased rate of data acquisition. The needs to organize and communicate these data and to provide a medium for continuing education are great in critical-care areas where the amount and the diversity of data collected are enormous, and the number of surgical team members involved in patient care has grown proportionately. The computer-based Clinical Assessment, Research, and Education System (CARE) is a time-shared computer system now available on a national basis designed to provide a management and education aid for the treatment of critically ill surgical patients. An initial clinical assessment and operative note are entered by the surgeon from which an estimation of the initial fluid, blood, and electrolyte deficits are calculated. Daily doctor's progress notes, shift nurses' summaries of vital signs, clinical information, intake and output data, and drug administration, biochemical, cardiovascular, blood gas, and respiratory information are entered for each shift. From these, a metabolic balance is calculated; fluid, electrolyte, and caloric requirements are determined; cardiorespiratory parameters are computed; and various therapuetic suggestions and cautions are given to alert the physician to problems that may be arising. The surgeon-user is assisted in making the best critical-care decisions through computer-directed, interactive prompting which focuses on the most important clinical conditions and correlations and metabolic considerations and relates the important problem to the relevant literature.