[Case histories and other stories in the multimedia era... but was there something else?...].
The multimedia era is fascinating and limitless! The advances in the field of consumer and entertainment electronics are impressive. Our private as well as business life is very much accompanied and influenced by numerous technical gadgets. These advancements should have many positive implications on our clinical work. Do they? Using modern personal computers and clinic information systems (CIS) the access to patients' data, the prescription of drugs, or x-ray diagnostics on high-resolution laptop screens became as easy as pie. This affects the doctor-patient relationship but also the communication between physicians and nurses. Computers also affect our daily clinical work and therefore the treatment of our patients. Do our patients take benefit from these technical achievements? Does the use of clinic information systems positively influence diagnosis, treatment and finally patient outcome but also doctors' performances? What has really changed in the last couples of years? The present article tries to critically review these major changes in patient care.
Klinik für Innere Medizin Tiefenau Ziegler, Spital Netz Bern, Bern. hanspeter.kohler@spitalnetzbern.ch
Hans-Peter
HP
Kohler
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D058006:General Practice; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D019212:Multimedia; D009816:Office Automation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D013557:Switzerland