[Introduction of the electronic anesthesia record keeping system].

Based on five-year experience, we have evaluated the electronic anesthesia record keeping system (DS 5300 OR, Fukuda Denshi, Tokyo), which is the first commercially available system combined with an anesthesia monitor in Japan. Although keying in of text with a keyboard on the screen remains to be improved, the user interface of touch screens is easy to use. It seems to be a great advantage that physiologic variables are automatically and accurately captured very minute. The record is more complete, legible, and accurate than a hand-written record. Both long-term storage and search for the data are much easier. The investment in this system is affordable even for small hospitals. Although there might be some areas in which improvement is needed, we are satisfied with its usefulness and reliability.