UTILIZATION OF CLINICAL LABORATORY INFORMATION SYSTEM DATABASES FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH.

The clinical laboratory information system (CLIS) represents a potential medical resource whose value outside of its service role in laboratory data management has remained largely unexplored. The authors wrote several programs for performing on-line CLIS database searches and for archival storage and retrieval of data from CLIS databases. These applications showed that CLIS databases can be tapped to yield a potential wealth of information for medical education and research. The authors' experience also pointed out some problems: (1) CLIS database query languages were lacking. This necessitated local software development to perform on-line database searches. (2) In the absence of CLIS data archival systems for long-term data storage, The authors programmed their own and found it cumbersome to use. Future design efforts should be directed toward ease and flexibility of use. (3) Medical records coded discharge diagnoses retrieved from hospital discharge diagnosis archival files were frequently inaccurate as judged by patient chart review.