Electronic medical records in a cardiological outpatient clinic

In an outpatient clinic, a huge amount of information, administrative, clinical and instrumental, has to be handled every day for patient care. A computerized method has been developed in our Institute that is able to track the patient from administrative admission up to discharge. For the purpose of obtaining electronic medical records in the patient who undergoes clinical and instrumental examinations, even on the same day, each clinical laboratory is provided by networked computers and results from instrumental data can be obtained on-line. The system is based on a relational database with clinical and administrative information and is integrated with a large hospital information system where the system covers the role of a functional island. Use of Java language, with its multiplatform capabilities, allows extensive installation in the clinical environment and full integration with other subsystems. A protected Web front-end allows remote consultation of data. For follow up purposes, all the data collected from 1999 to the present day during hospital admission of in- or out-patients can be collected, retrieved and updated. At present 4600 cardiological outpatients have been treated by this system with substantial clinical achievements, time saving, and better follow up organization.