Norman A. Palley

Data management for clinical research

This paper discusses a prototype system intended for the personal use of physicians engaged in clinical research. In particular, the prototype is a highly integrated, interactive, minicomputer based data management and analysis system. The facilities offered by the system allow the clinical investigator to store, recall, analyze, and display his research data without resorting to computer programming. Modern data base techniques are available to the physician as aids in organizing, storing, and retrieving his data. The data base concepts are expressed in terms that are familiar to a clinical researcher.

Information processing needs and practices of clinical investigators: survey results

Although medical researchers were among the first to pursue the promise of computerization, clinical investigators, namely physicians who conduct research into the biology of human subjects and who evaluate the efficacy of new therapeutic measures, have not shared even modestly in the benefits so far available. With the expectation that improved information processing techniques and facilities can improve the quality and efficiency of clinical research and ultimately patient care, The Division of Research Resources (DRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been sponsoring a scientific inquiry (called CLINFO) aimed at first developing a detailed understanding of the information processing needs and current practices of clinical investigators and then developing methods for generally and economically alleviating some of the most important needs. The CLINFO investigation team consists of clinical investigators (T. Graham Christopher, M.D. at the University of Washington, Arthur W. Nunnery, M.D. at the University of Oklahoma and Howard K. Thompson, Jr., M.D. at the Baylor College of Medicine), the authors and other information scientists at The Rand Corporation, and William R. Baker, Jr., the CLINFO Project Officer, and other staff members of the DRR.