Problem-Oriented Medical Records

SAYING THAT the system of problem-oriented medical record (POMR) keeping is revolutionary understates the work of Dr Larry Weed. He has taught and used the POMR system in ways that have changed American medicine. I wonder if Ireland will bring computer-assisted medical databases into Irish hospitals. Weed and his team formed the Problem-Knowledge Coupler Corporation (PKC) and created a PC-based version of the software. PKC employs 70 people in Burlington, Vermont. Its software does an amazing job of coupling patients' symptoms with the latest relevant medical information.

The Economist reports that "doctors who have used PKC for years tell endless tales of improved office efficiencies, better patient involvement and diagnoses that they might otherwise have missed. A study from 2001 validates their experience, indicating that PKC's systematic approach can improve outcomes in chronic conditions such as diabetes. America's Department of Defence has been impressed enough to build PKC into its own Composite Health Care System, called CHCS II, so that Dr Weed's software looks after some 9m people."

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The Economist -- "The Computer Will See You Now", December 10, 2005.

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