Integrating non-proprietary workstations into proprietary systems

'Clinical workstations', increasingly described as pivotal components of information systems for patient care, can be characterized as providing several major functions: access to data, presentation of data, computation (including medical decision logic), entry of data, and combinations of the above, integrated appropriately for various clinical situations. Because workstation technology is developing rapidly on many fronts and the demands on health-care organizations are growing, it is increasingly unlikely that any single total-system solution can effectively meet the needs. This paper discusses some of the issues pertinent to the integration of non-proprietary workstations with proprietary hospital systems. The approach of a particular vendor, the role of a meta-database, user interface design standards, and some problems consequent to the new technologies are discussed.