[Information technology and medical record routines in hospitals in the health care region 2]. / Informasjonsteknologi og journalrutiner ved sykehus i helseregion 2.

Structure, standard and efficient methods in paper medical records are important for a successful implementation of computerised medical records. We have conducted a survey among 26 somatic hospitals in a Norwegian region regarding present routines and use of information technology in patients records. The hospitals use six different patient administration systems, six laboratory, six radiology, and approximately 20 different specialist systems. 16 hospitals use three different electronic journal/documentation systems. Ten hospitals use the Word word processor for patient records. The full potential of word processing is not utilised. Digital dictation is seldom used; few hospitals have 24-hours service for documentation, and information technology is not used for documentation in nursing care. Four hospitals use microfilm. The survey shows that improvement is needed in order to achieve coordinated and effective use of information technology and manual routines in hospital medical records.

Whole blood viscosity, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy blood donors.

Whole blood viscosity contributes to the total peripheral resistance and has been suggested to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Whole blood viscosity was measured using a direct technique in 105 healthy blood donors and in addition to establishing our reference values, the relationship to blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors was assessed. Whole blood viscosity correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.29, p = 0.003), cholesterol (r = 0.21, p = 0.034), cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (r = 0.33, p = 0.01), triglycerides (r = 0.37, p < 0.0005), body mass index (r = 0.29, p = 0.003) and waist-hip ratio (r = 0.30, p = 0.002). Subjects with systolic blood pressure > 130 mmHg (n = 16) had higher whole blood viscosity (p = 0.017) than those with lower blood pressure. Whole blood viscosity was significantly lower in women (n = 52) than in men at all shear rates (0.045 > p > 0.001). These results suggest that even in a population of healthy normotensive blood donors of a wide age range and either gender, there are positive correlations between directly assessed whole blood viscosity and a number of the components of the metabolic cardiovascular syndrome including systolic blood pressure, weight and blood lipids.