As its name implies, this book deals with clinical inforrnation systems. The
clinical inforrnation system (or CIS) is an automated system with a long term
database containing clinical inforrnation used for patient care. This definition
excludes business systems (no clinical data), physiological monitaring systems
(no long terrn database), and many research systems (not used in patient care).
The theses of this book are (a) that CIS technology is mature, (b) that the CIS
will have a major impact upon patient care and the health delivery system, and
( c) that the number of commercial systems which now offer these potential
benefits is very small. The objective of this book is to establish the above theses
and thereby (a) inform both users and developers, (b) increase the demand for
more sophisticated products, and finally, (c) provide marketplace incentives to
advance the state of the art.