Clinical systems

Abstract 

The computerization of clinical care is needed for several reasons. Paper records cannot efficiently support new models of care, clinical governance, or clinical decision-making, and they are not always available. Modern, patient-centric, electronic patient record systems that incorporate clinical decision-support tools are now being introduced to replace legacy computer systems that use out-dated technology and have limited clinical usefulness. Clinical systems have many components, and in particular, electronic correspondence, requests and reports for investigations, electronic prescribing and clinical reports can deliver benefits to clinicians and patients. Clarity and precision in communication is of paramount importance, and can be enabled by the use of a common terminology system such as SNOMED CT.

Keywords: clinical correspondence, electronic prescribing, results request and reports, SNOMED