Automated data management for clinicians. A low-cost approach.

A self-instructional general purpose clinical data management system using a low-cost microcomputer has been developed specifically for use by clinicians not famililar with computers. The system was designed to resemble the traditional manual method of data analysis, while the time-consuming and repetitive procedures intrinsic to the manual method have been replaced by automation. This system has been used to analyze a variety of clinical problems, including patient chart review, collation of laboratory research data, initiating a vascular registry, and calculations with trending of physiological and laboratory data in the intensive care unit. User acceptance has been uniformly positive.