Administrators' and health services researchers' requirements for workstations

This paper offers a view of requirements for workstations, based on work currently going forward in the UK, some of which involves collaboration with partners in other European countries. In the UK, as elsewhere, interest in this subject has been lively for many years. The paper draws only on current and planned work, and does not attempt an historical resume. The status of the centrally-funded programme of work under the heading 'Integrated Clinical Workstation' (ICWS) is described. The project has put together a statement of user requirements. A Consensus Conference was held on 9 November 1992 at which an invited panel of clinicians, informaticians and suppliers met to discuss the way forward. A number of key areas and concerns were highlighted at this conference, of which the first was that the whole exercise needs to be clinically driven. The paper gives a brief account of projects in the UK and Europe which are beginning to address some of the requirements outlined above. The common thread through all these projects is a recognition that clinical workstation requirements have to be met by methods which cater to a wide variety of changing needs and approaches. No single static design will be sufficient.