Be well!: a computer-based health care interview for hospital personnel

We developed a computer-based health care interview for employees at an urban teaching hospital. The interview is part of the hospital-wide, integrated Center for Clinical Computing (CCC) system at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and is available on 1500 terminals located throughout the hospital. The program emphasizes medical problems and patterns of living for which behavioral change is considered desirable. Conducted in private and with protection of confidentiality, the interview offers information about people and facilities available to help members of the hospital community seek better health. Between May 15, 1990, and May 14, 1992, a total of 1281 people completed the interview, and 84% indicated an interest in one or more of the health-related programs offered by the hospital. That these are difficult times in America was illustrated by the unhappiness reported by 43% of the participants, including 5% who indicated that life sometimes seemed not worth living. We hope they availed themselves of the opportunity offered by the interview to obtain help for their problems, and that other hospitals will do what Beth Israel Hospital is doing to promote well-being among its employees.