A basic system for improving quality of care in nursing homes.

This article describes a computer-based system for storing, retrieving, and analyzing several related parts of the medical record in long-term care facilities--physicians' orders, diagnoses and sensitivities. The system is in response to a number of problems in the areas of governmental regulation, documentation, on-going review, prospective and retrospective medical care evaluation. (The proposed changes in regulations may dictate further refinements, which are relatively simple to program.) It has been tested and installed in two Maryland facilities of 82 and 143 beds respectively, and is well accepted by medical, nursing, pharmaceutical and administrative staff members in these institutions. The system is believed to have satisfied all of its initial objectives, including making a significant contribution to the quality of patient care in these nursing homes.