| Abstract | An on-line computerized system has been developed which allows entry, storage, and retrieval of admission, on-going hospitalization, and discharge data in a neonatal ICU. The data is entered by the housestaff and includes demographic data, a history, physical examination, problem list, nutrition data, and discharge information. Steps were taken to maintain confidentiality of the medical record. Advantages of the system include: housestaff education, uniform data storage, rapid retrieval of data, improved legibility of reports, and research applications. Disadvantages include: greater time required to record data, initial housestaff resistance to a computerized data system, unpredictable down-time of the system early in its development, and significant costs of both the hardware and software. The program was written in MUMPS language and is maintained on a PDP 11/34 computer. |