Innovations and research review: the impact of the HELP computer system on the LDS Hospital paper medical record.

This study sought to answer the question: What percentage of an LDS Hospital patient's chart is contained in the HELP system? Using the number of pages in the record as the criteria, the answer is about 26 percent overall, but between 35 percent and 40 percent for patients in nursing divisions where computerized nurse charting is used. Although this fraction is likely to rise in the near future, the critical factor driving computerization is the desire for data usable in computerized decision making rather than the need to computerize the entire chart per se. The medical record at LDS Hospital will probably be a hybrid of computerized and paper data for some time to come.