Patient records need to record not only personal details such as name, address, relatives and employer, but most importantly detailed health history, record of operations and medication. The more efficiently this information can be stored and retrieved, the more efficiently the health care system can be administered.

Hospitals are extremely busy organisations which usually function amidst considerable stress. In order to use the facilities efficiently, where possible, activities need to be scheduled. For example, the availability or surgeons needs to be co-ordinated with the availability of operating rooms and the urgency of treatments. With good scheduling systems, much of the stress of the more routine activities can be reduced.

By their very nature, ambulances do not work to a schedule. They are needed at unexpected places and unexpected times. The best a system can do is to optimise their use. That means knowing which ambulance is nearest to a scene at any given moment. In addition, modern software gives an ambulance driver details of the shortest route. The latest on-board software makes use of speech synthesis which actually tells the driver how to get to a destination as he is driving. This technology makes use of in-built maps and global positioning (GPS).

With diagnostic tools, a doctor feeds information about a patient symptoms into the system. The system will respond with a series of possible causes. It may ask for further information to refine the diagnosis. At the moment these tools are not replacing the diagnostic skills of a doctor, but rather help him/her explore alternative diagnoses.

Other diagnostic tools connect the patient directly to the computer. This is commonly used in the diagnosis of cardiac problems. Not only are all the different heart waves displayed on the screen, but the physician has the option of magnifying or analysing any of the patterns in more detail. They can also be stored and compared with the heart patterns at a later stage.

A modern trend is towards less invasive surgery. This involves inserted catheters into different parts of the body. Through these miniature cameras and surgical instruments are placed. The output from the cameras are displayed on large screens. Other relevant data is also analysed and displayed on screens. All of the activities are assisted by special computer programs.