APPLICATION OF COMPUTERS IN CLINICAL DIABETES CARE

This article critically appraises selected clinically related papers t hat recently appeared in a two-part Special Issue of Medical Informati cs, the official journal of the European Federation for Medical Inform atics, This has been devoted to the application of computers in clinic al diabetes care, The 15 papers included in the Special Issues cover d atabase systems (including telemedicine and smart-card based applicati ons), algorithmic-based systems, decision-support prototypes, the use of models, and educational software, In this article the computing bac kground to the work is overviewed, before the clinical need and potent ial cost-benefits of utilising information technology in clinical diab etes care are highlighted, The DIAMOND, DIABCARD, DIABTel, HumaLink, A IDA, 'Packy & Marlon', and 'Learning Diabetes' systems are reviewed, C oncerns over evaluation methodologies are raised and it is suggested t hat such issues need to be addressed, before programs like these will see widespread utilisation and clinical acceptance, Although the Medic al Informatics Special Issues should not be considered as in any way c omprehensive in their coverage of clinical diabetes computing - it is hoped that the compilation of papers provided there - along with this critical appraisal - may offer a useful source of novel ideas - as wel l as, perhaps, a starting point for future research. (C) 1997, Editric e Kurtis.