Computerised dose records and database applications
Kendall GM.
Computers can be used in a number of ways to support programmes of personal monitoring and related tasks. Their particular strengths are the automation of routine procedures and the ease of data retrieval. This paper describes some of the systems in use and puts them in their historical context. A trend towards the use of commercial database management systems or fourth generation languages is identified. These packages offer flexibility and ease of programming and the trend to their use is likely to continue as the cost of computer hardware falls and the computational inefficiency of general-purpose packages becomes less important.