A MULTIMEDIA PERIOPERATIVE RECORD KEEPER FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH

Objective. To develop a multimedia perioperative recordkeeper that pro vides: 1. synchronous, real-time acquisition of multimedia data, 2. on -line access to the patient's chart data, and 3. advanced data analysi s capabilities through integrated, multimedia database and analysis ap plications. Design, To minimize cost and development time, the system design utilized industry standard hardware components and graphical so ftware development tools. The system was configured to use a Pentium P C complemented with a variety of hardware interfaces to external data sources. These sources included physiologic monitors with data in digi tal, analog, video, and audio as well as paper-based formats. Developm ent. The development process was guided by trials in over 80 clinical cases and by the critiques from numerous users. As a result of this pr ocess, a suite of custom software applications were created to meet th e design goals. The Perioperative Data Acquisition application manages data collection from a variety of physiological monitors. The Charter application provides for rapid creation of an electronic medical reco rd from the patient's paper-based chart and investigator's notes. The Multimedia Medical Database application provides a relational database for the organization and management of multimedia data. The Triscreen application provides an integrated data analysis environment with sim ultaneous, full-motion data display Conclusion. With recent technologi cal advances in PC power, data acquisition hardware, and software deve lopment tools, the clinical researcher now has the ability to collect and examine a more complete perioperative record. It is hoped that the description of the MPR and its development process will assist and en courage others to advance these tools for perioperative research.