The evolving marriage of a local area network (LAN) and a hospital information system (HIS)

Over the last eight years, a teleprocessing/database Hospital Information System (HIS) for the Medical College of Georgia hospital and clinics has evolved to include approximately 200 terminal functions, 100 cathode ray terminals (CRT's) and 25 printers running on an IBM 4341. Concurrent with this development, several specialized standalone departmental minicomputer systems have evolved in response to specific requirements. In early 1981, a networking concept was proposed whereby the various information management systems within the hospital and clinics could communicate with each other. Uhis concept has been successfully applied to several systems including a Local Area Network (LAN) of 24 processors and 45 workstations. This paper will outline the evolution from a single host processor multiple terminal oriented HIS, to a communications network of computers, to the integration of the host terminal network and a flexible Local Area Network.