Experiences in deployment of a Web-based CIS for referring physicians

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Information Systems
• Web-based Healthcare Technology

Background:

• Timely information exchange between hospitals and community clinicians is crucial for effective healthcare.
• Providing remote physicians access to hospital clinical information systems presents significant technical and financial challenges.
• Existing hospital workstations and networks are not compatible with external physician offices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the deployment of a web-based clinical information system for referring physicians.
• To assess the feasibility and impact of web technology in bridging information gaps between hospitals and external clinicians.

Main Methods:

• Development and deployment of a web-based clinical information system.
• Focus on providing computer-based access to referring physicians outside the hospital network.
• Six-month deployment period for initial evaluation.

Main Results:

• The web-based system offers an alternative to costly client installations for remote users.
• Demonstrated a method for delivering clinical applications to a diverse, non-networked user population.
• Initial experiences from the first six months of system use by referring physicians are presented.

Conclusions:

• Web technology presents a viable and cost-effective solution for extending clinical information systems to external healthcare providers.
• The deployed system improved information exchange efficiency for referring physicians.
• Further development and adoption of web-based solutions can enhance healthcare community connectivity.