COMPUTERS AND NETWORKS IN MEDICAL AND HEALTH-CARE SYSTEMS

Information technology has an important and expanding role in the deli very of high quality healthcare services. Until recently health inform atics systems have generally been developed as independent centralized databases. With computing communications technologies now being intro duced into major hospitals, many new information services can now be p rovided to enhance the patient-care provider interaction. This paper f irstly reviews (existing and currently evolving) information technolog ies related to text and image-based patient related data. A case study of the introduction of network services at the Austin Hospital, Melbo urne, then describes the advantages of computing communication technol ogies in the healthcare environment, and outlines the strategy adopted to implement these services in a clinically advantageous cost-effecti ve manner.