PATIENT CARE FUNCTIONS FOR AN ARTHRITIS DATABASE SYSTEM

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO MODIFY AND EXTEND INFORMATION ANALYSIS CORPORATION'S MEDLOG CLINICAL DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INTO THE AREAS OF CLINICAL CARE AND PATIENT MANAGEMENT. A BROAD, THOROUGH STUDY WILL BE MADE OF THE FEATURES THAT WOULD BE MOST USEFUL TO CLINICIANS. SOME OF THE PROPOSED FEATURES ARE: (1) AN OPTIMAL DISPLAY OF TEXT, TABULATIONS, AND GRAPHICS; (2) PROGNOSTIC AIDS TO ASSIST IN TREATMENT ACTIONS; (3) DATA INFERENCE TECHNIQUES TO HANDLE MISSING DATA; (4) IMPROVED DATA ENTRY METHODS; (5) HAND-HELD SYSTEMS FOR INPUT AND DATA DISPLAY; (6) NEW TYPES OF MULTIVALUED VARIABLES; AND (7) AN IMPROVED REPORT WRITER FOR FORM LETTERS AND REMINDERS. IN PHASE I, A SET OF SPECIFICATIONS AND AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN WILL BE PREPARED. THIS PLAN WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH THE HELP OF THE ARAMIS ARTHRITIS CENTER AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY. THE RESULTING SYSTEM WILL ENABLE CLINICIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN MEDICAL RESEARCH AND WILL IMPROVE PATIENT CARE.