Present Status of Computer Support in Ambulatory Care

The Working Group 5 of the International Medical Informatics Associ­ ation (IMIA) dedicates its work to information systems in primary and ambulatory care. The first conference of this Working Group in Hanno­ ver in 1980 produced a review of the state of the art of that time and gave perspectives for future development (Rienhoff, O. and Abrams, M.E. (eds.): The Computer in the Doctor's Office, Horth­ Holland, Amsterdam: 1980). In the meantime, a rapid development has taken place. Therefore it seemed appropriate to hold another working conference which was con­ ducted in Munich, December 2-6, 1985. The goal of this working conference was to review the developments in this field and to critically evaluate the progress achieved so far. The conference addressed general principles in system development and prerequisists for their successful introduction into routine use. Furthermore, the topics of expert systems and new technologies were discussed in the context of their usefulness and usability in ambula­ tory care systems. As before, it became very clear that actual computer systems to sup­ port ambulatory and/or primary care have to meet the conditions of the health care delivery systems, into which they are to be placed.