DEVELOPMENT OF A CLINICAL 0NCOLOGY WORKSTATION

IN THE PHASE I PROJECT, A PROTOTYPE CLINICAL ONCOLOGY WORKSTATION WAS DEVELOPED TO DEMONSTRATE THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF A CLINICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT THE OUTPATIENT TREATMENT OF CANCER PATIENTS. THE ONCOLOGY WORKSTATION PROTOTYPE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FEATURES: (1) AHARDWARE PLATFORM CONSISTING OF AN IBM RT WORKSTATION RUNNING AN AIX (UNIX) OPERATING SYSTEM WITH A DOS COPROCESSING CAPABILITY; (2) A STATE-OF-THE-ART PATIENT CARE/ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD SYSTEM CALLED PROTOUCH(RM), SERVING AS THE BASIC APPLICATION AND USER INTERFACE, PORTED TO THE IBM RT AND AIX FROM AN HP 9000 AND HP-UX; (3) AN INTEGRATED CD-ROM PLAYER AND DISK CONTAINING PDQ, CANCERLIT,AND ONCOLOGY TEXTS, ACCESSED FROM PROTOUCH(RM) USING SEARCHLITE(RM), A SOFTWARE PACKAGE DEVELOPED BY A SMALL BUSINESS LEADER IN THE FIELD OF CD-ROM TECHNOLOGY; AND (4) AN EXAMPLE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF A CANCER TREATMENT PROTOCOL IN PROTOUCH(RM) TO DEMONSTRATE TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE TO CLINICIANS FOR SUPPORTING DELIVERY OF PROTOCOL CARE. IN THE COURSE OF THE PHASE I PROJECT, SIGNIFICANT INSIGHTS WERE GAINED IN HOW TO POSITION, PACKAGE, CONFIGURE, INSTALL,AND MAINTAIN A CLINICAL ONCOLOGY WORKSTATION THAT WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE DIRECTIONS IN THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMERCIALLY VIABLE WORKSTATION.