Finstar--a comprehensive information system for primary care.

During 1979-1981 a Costar-based edp-information system was created in a cooperation-project at the computing centre of Kuopio university and the health centre of Varkaus. The system, called Finstar, was installed in Varkaus in 1979 and it has now been in routine use for more than three years. The system is a realtime system and the function of it is based on active use of terminals. The system consists of several subsystems like registration, scheduling, medical records, providers' working-schedules, system maintenance, occupational health care, etc. About 100 persons of the health centre's staff use the system daily. The classical paper record has been replaced by an edp-medical record. The hardware consists of a central unit DEC PDP 11/44 and 45 terminals, three of which are printers.