Multimedia electronic medical record systems

A wide range of imaging technologies are becoming increasingly important to the practice of medicine. In addition, many medical specialties are highly visual, independent of their use of new imaging modalities. Because today' s medical record contains text, images, and physiologic signals, it is inhe rently multimedia in nature. However, most electronic medical record system s handle only the textual portion of the patient record, resulting in a fra gmentation of the database that physicians need to make timely, effective c linical decisions. Advances in database-, storage-, data-compression, and n etworking technologies will facilitate the development of multimedia electr onic medical record systems for the 21st century. These systems will become widely used over the next decade, and in addition to enhancing patient car e, will also present new opportunities for using clinical imaging data for biomedical research and education.