[The state of the art of the computer applications in clinical laboratory medicine].
For all kinds of purposes, a huge amount of data are processed at a clinical laboratory, including not only letters and numerical values, but also waves and graphics. So various computer applications have been developed for it, although only a small part of them has survived through severe use in practice. They have to cope with many exceptions that will occur at any time, and also to adapt progressive changes in medicine and in needs to medicine, otherwise they cannot increase the productivity of their users, rather they will decrease it. To avoid such failures, (1) one should make a comprehensive system analysis before planning, (2) one should understand completely what will happen at the user interface of the system, (3) one should make systems so flexible that they can adapt the alteration of needs of their users. This paper present some outstanding examples that are used or are going to be used successfully in each practical application of laboratory medicine, and point out the key factors of each success.
Nishibori
M
M
Clinical Laboratory, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Medical Hospital.
Hagihara
M
M
D002984:Clinical Laboratory Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010338:Pathology, Clinical