Lifestyle: Tomorrow´s electronic hospital is here today: Computer use is revolutionizing not only hospital laboratories and record-keeping, but also emergency treatment, diagnostics, and intensive care

Until recently, doctors seeking information on patients at most hospitals had to visit a storage room and pore through files that were hand-written and perhaps intelligible only to their authors. But at state-of-the-art facilities like LDS Hospital of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, doctors need only tap a nearby terminal for patient records. The records are displayed in a clear, standardized format. Moreover, the computer can help the physician interpret the data and even help prescribe appropriate therapy.