Clinical, scholarly & campus information hypertext tools at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center

In conjunction with other researchers at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC) we have developed a number of hypertext and free text retrieval computer applications aimed at an extremely diverse audience which includes students and faculty in a university setting as well as health care providers and patients in hospital and clinic settings. Hypertext and free text systems offer features which make them ideal for presenting information in a wide variety of contexts; however, they also have several major weaknesses which must be addressed before these applications can be useful tools. We have learned to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses to present material in a manner that is individualized to the needs of each user from the research scientist in the lab to the patient at the bedside.