[The matter of computerized medical records in psychiatry]

To determine the choice of an adequate automatic data processing system in psychiatry, as in medicine, requires a serious set of specifications: one must take into account the aims, and distinguish between everyday applications of file processing, and other ones, more demanding, of research and statistical applications, often little compatible with each other. The financial means have to be compared with the expected benefits (output): often in psychiatry, the patient turn-over is too low to justify the purchase of an expensive hardware. The objectives of filing and classification have to break out, in order to supply the best answer (soft ware). However a computer system alone will not be sufficient to settle, anyway, the question of diagnosis in psychiatry.

Storage and retrieval of SNOP-coded pathologic diagnoses using offsite computing and optical character recognizing systems

A computerized cross-reference system for retrieving autopsy and surgical pathology cases on the basis of case number or diagnosis has been implemented. The system achieves economy and flexibility by using offsite computer service bureaus for job production, eliminating the need for expensive onsite equipment. Coded diagnoses may be typed using the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) font simultaneously with or separately from the clinical documentation. The flexibility of new OCR equipment permits production of machine-readable code sheets with an ordinary pencil and completely eliminates the need for typing. The system produces year-to-date books that list all diagnoses, on an accumulating basis, in alphabetic order by SNOP* topology, morphology, etiology and function, and will be compatible with SNOMed. Because all data are stored on magnetic tape, they may be manipulated and retrieved as desired through user programming. The initial setup cost was dollar 1,000 for programming and testing, and production runs and all report printing cost about dollar 1,000 per year (autopsies and surgical pathology cases), which is about 1.1 cents per diagnosis.