A multimedia perioperative record keeper for clinical research

Objective. To develop a multimedia perioperative recordkeeper that provides: 1. synchronous, real-time acquisition of multimedia data, 2. on-line access to the patient's chart data, and 3. advanced data analysis capabilities through integrated, multimedia database and analysis applications.Design. To minimize cost and development time, the system design utilized industry standard hardware components and graphical software development tools. The system was configured to use a Pentium PC complemented with a variety of hardware interfaces to external data sources. These sources included physiologie monitors with data in digital, analog, video, and audio as well as paper-based formats.Development. The development process was guided by trials in over 80 clinical cases and by the critiques from numerous users. As a result of this process, a suite of custom software applications were created to meet the design goals. ThePerioperative Data Acquisition application manages data collection from a variety of physiological monitors. TheCharter application provides for rapid creation of an electronic medical record from the patient's paper-based chart and investigator's notes. TheMultimedia Medical Database application provides a relational database for the organization and management of multimedia data. TheTriscreen application provides an integrated data analysis environment with simultaneous, full-motion data display.Conclusion. With recent technological advances in PC power, data acquisition hardware, and software development tools, the clinical researcher now has the ability to collect and examine a more complete perioperative record. It is hoped that the description of the MPR and its development process will assist and encourage others to advance these tools for perioperative research.