Image engine: an integrated multimedia clinical information system.

Image Engine is a microcomputer-based system for the integration, storage, retrieval, and sharing of digitized clinical images. The system seeks to address the problem of integrating a wide range of clinically important images with the text-based electronic patient record. Rather than create a single, integrated database system for all clinical data, we are developing a separate image database system that creates real-time, dynamic links to other network-based clinical databases. To the user, this system will present an integrated multimedia representation of the patient record, providing access to both the image and text-based data required for effective clinical decision making.