Development of an object-oriented intelligent clinical information management system

The Clinical Information Management System (CIMS), an intelligent system to assist in the effective use of information derived from clinical laboratory data in the intensive care unit, has been designed and implemented and is undergoing evaluation. The key intelligent instrument of CIMS is described in the context of the clinical interpretation of acid-base balance and electrolyte data as part of the measurement process of blood-gas analysis. CIMS helps to illustrate the concepts and technological issues involved in the production of intelligent clinical instrumentation systems and provides evidence as to the level of machine intelligence required to achieve such objectives