Computer-assisted research of medical records: a facilitated access file for physical examination, laboratory, and diagnostic data.

The Facilitated Access File, described herein, has proved to be an acceptable, relatively simple, yet feasible strategy for general medical record information retrieval at a university hospital clinic. Physicians record physical examination data in free-text mode, then through a rapid exercise of judgment, create an index to these data which is computer-stored. Such an index file provides future investigators facilitated access back to the original handwritten data and permits a variety of statistical studies. The system has been in use for over a year and has proved to be of value in clinical research and student teaching.