title: Providing location-independent access to patient clinical narratives using Web browsers and a tiered server approach.
abstract: Health care today depends upon timely access to patient medical data and the latest medical knowledge. As we make the transition from a hospital-based organization to an integrated health care delivery system, patient care information must move throughout the organization quickly and efficiently over increasing distances. The emergence of widely-dispersed referral networks demands novel solutions to the problems of delivering patient care information to providers. We have developed a mechanism to provide location-independent access to clinical narrative reports using a multi-tiered server model and World Wide Web technologies for delivery. To successfully deploy such a system to sites separated by large distances, it is important to reduce complexity at the client site. Using a "thin client", such as a web browser, in our design facilitates deployment and support while reducing cost per user. This architecture allows the application to be updated without modification to the end-user software and eases maintenance over long distances.
authors.affiliation: Program in Health Services Management, University of Missouri-Columbia 65211, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Klimczak
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Witten
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Brilhart
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Frankenberger
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003199:Computer Systems; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D016490:Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D012984:Software; D018511:Systems Integration; D014584:User-Computer Interface