A Comprehensive Computer System for Anesthetic Record Retrieval

Abstract

We have developed computer software to store data on all surgical and obstetrical anesthetics administered by our department. The computer system provides information for monitoring the residency training program, department and operating room management, professional fee billing, and research. It imposes little additional workload on our clinical personnel, who use simple codes to record the necessary data directly on the anesthetic record. Department secretarial staff transcribe data from the anesthesia and operating room records into the computer file, which is then available for producing scheduled reports and for answering inquiries from a video terminal. The system employs extensive manual and computer verification to minimize errors and omissions in the data. We report design details and more than 3.5 years experience with this system, which is now used at four affiliated teaching hospitals, has over 50,000 cases on file, and adds more than 1800 cases monthly.