Internet-based physician's workbench as user interface for a central medical case repository

Two World Health Organization Radiation Medical Emergency Preparedness and Assistance Network centers have constructed a standardized central reposito ry of acute radiation syndrome case histories. The case histories are store d on a database server. Radiation protection centers can remotely access th e database by user-friendly client software over the Internet. Physicians c an use the medical information system to retrieve similar case histories fo r decision support, to improve their medical knowledge by inspecting real c ase histories, and for research on the acute radiation syndrome. The system architecture is presented and it is shown in detail how the information sy stem can be employed to deliver medical decision support. Dialogue-response times over narrow-bandwidth Internet connections are better than when usin g conventional World-Wide-Web technology. However, the latter does not requ ire the installation of client software other than a browser, A Java(TM) ap plet as client could combine the advantages of the two approaches.