The HELP system

Development of a comprehensive computer system for acquiring medical data and implementing medical decision logic and is currently operational at LDS Hospital, which is a 550-bed tertiary care hospital serving the needs of the intermountain west.

Abstract

Development of a comprehensive computer system for acquiring medical data and implementing medical decision logic has been ongoing for over 15 years at the University of Utah and the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.This system is known as HELP and is currently operational at LDS Hospital, which is a 550-bed tertiary care hospital serving the needs of the intermountain west.This hospital also serves as one of the primary teaching centers for the University of Utah Medical School.Having been developed in this environment, the design of the HELP system was required to meet the administrative, clinical, teaching, and research needs of hospitals, as well as provide the decision-making capability. SYSTEM OBJECTIVESFour major objectives were outlined in the development of HELP.They are as follows.(1) The system must be able to accommodate an ever-expanding medical data base.That is, the system must easily allow for expanded definition of new medical terms within the internal HELP data base.To facilitate this objective, the system had to provide generalized procedures for the acquisition, storage, and review of all data items defined in the medical data base.(2) The system must process medical decision logic.The decision logic supported by HELP had to include criteria for diagnostic, therapeutic, and alarm protocols.(3) The system must be capable of serving both the medical and administrative needs of the hospital.HELP, therefore, was designed to be a complete hospital information system.(4) The system must provide effective research subsystems that facilitate clinical research on the large data base naturally acquired by the system.Of the above objectives, the most unusual and potentially most beneficial is that feature which implements medical decision logic.In the development of this capability, certain design constraints were formulated: (1) The decision logic should be modular, with control and interaction of modules determined by medical experts responsible for a