Providing location-independent access to patient clinical narratives using Web browsers and a tiered server approach

Health care today depends upon timely access to patient medical data and the latest medical knowledge. As we make the transition from a hospital-based organization to an integrated health care delivery system, patient care information must move throughout the organization quickly and efficiently over increasing distances. The emergence of widely-dispersed referral networks demands novel solutions to the problems of delivering patient care information to providers. We have developed a mechanism to provide location-independent access to clinical narrative reports using a multi-tiered server model and World Wide Web technologies for delivery. To successfully deploy such a system to sites separated by large distances, it is important to reduce complexity at the client site. Using a "thin client", such as a web browser, in our design facilitates deployment and support while reducing cost per user. This architecture allows the application to be updated without modification to the end-user software and eases maintenance over long distances.