title: Medical informatics: developments in West Germany and South Africa.
abstract: Comparisons are made between medical information systems in West Germany and South Africa. In both countries the costs and importance of medical information systems dictate that a methodological approach is essential in order to obtain a solution for a particular environment. The special implications for South Africa are (i) to work from user requirements to computer system, rather than the reverse; (ii) to institute training programmes for the professionals required to organize and staff such systems; and (iii) to prepare the groundwork for medical information systems by scrutinizing the existing types, amounts, flows and uses of medical information.
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers / Q000295:instrumentation; D005860:Germany, West; D006753:Hospital Records; D007256:Information Systems / Q000639:trends*; D011996:Records; D013019:South Africa