I. Patient Data Management Systems in Europe.- Patient Data Management Systems in Europe - A Comparative Study.- II. System Descriptions.- EMTEK System 2000 - The Clinical Information Management System from Siemens.- Clinisoft - An Advanced Information System for the ICU.- Care Planning and Documentation with the Patient Data Management System (PDMS) CareVue 9000.- Experiences with a PC-Based Indifferent Communicating PDM-System.- Integration of Patient Monitors into a Data Management System for the Intensive Care Unit.- III. User Experiences.- Problems and Experiences During the Installation of a PDMS.- One Year Experience with a Unix-Based Clinical Information System (CIS) on an SICU.- User Experiences with Patient-Data-Management-Systems (PDMS) at Four International Sites.- Information System for ICU. The Finnish Hospitals' Consortium.- Commercial Aspects in the Acquisition of Patient Data Management Systems.- IV. Clinical Applications.- Clinical Application of Patient Data Management Systems (PDMS): Computer-Assisted Weaning from Artificial Ventilation (KBWEAN).- Knowledge-Based Monitoring and Therapy Planning in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
Recent technological innovations - influenced primarily by the development of more sophisticated, faster and cheaper computer systems - permitted also the evolution of more affordable systems for Patient Data Management, so called PDM-Systems. The experience of the authors, on one of the first PDMS installation sites in Europe, shows that the purchase of such a system is not an easy task, since accurate data are not available in a comparable format. Therefore the first part of the book is devoted to a comparison of already installed, commercially distributed bedside based PDMS with regard to their specifications, functions and performance. The methods included a questionnaire with detailed questions for the vendors to answer and a "table of functions" comparing the most important functions which should be included in a PDMS. With that list the different systems (which were all in clinical use) were checked for the availability and the way of use of these functions. To evaluate variations in the systems performance an "information retrieval test" was designed and executed.
In the second part the different vendors, whose systems were included in the study, were to describe the systems from their viewpoints. The third part contains papers describing the users' experiences. The fourth and last part shows how to use PDMS-data for scientific and therapeutic purposes including two papers on clinical expert systems. Thus, this book provides valuable information for clinicians and hospital managers who have to decide on the purchase of a Patient Data Management System.