Mental Health Information Systems: Some National Trends

Abstract

Results of a national survey indicate that approximately 90 percent of all state departments of mental health utilize computer support for at least some administrative and clinical functions. Nearly all indicated planning for considerably increased use; very few reported neither current use of computers nor active plans for future use. Both this survey and a similar one concerning community mental health centers indicate extensive development and strong acceptance of computer applications in administrative and documentation areas, in program evaluation, utilization review and research, but rather weak endorsement and proliferation concerning more clinically-oriented computer applications that involve the monitoring of individual patient care, clinical decision making and clinical predictions.

Multi-Hospital Information Systems (MHISs)

“…Mental health information systems was the term used by Hedlund [ 61 ] at the University of Missouri-Columbia in a review of computers in mental health hospitals. Such systems attempted to integrate information about mental health care from a number of different sources in order to satisfy a variety of administrative and clinical needs.…”

“…The primary objective of the computer project was the application of automated techniques to the clinical aspects of hospital care [ 13 ]. It was this system's emphasis on clinical applications directed to individual patient care that served as an operational model for other mental health information systems [ 61 ]. By 1980 Glueck's staff had developed programs in such areas as mental status, behavioral assessment, biofeedback monitoring, automated nursing notes, computerized education, and psychophysiological monitoring [ 27 ].…”

“…Hedlund [ 61 ] credited the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) with funding the earliest mental health information systems, and reported that in the mid1970s there were fi ve multi-state mental health information systems in the United States. The Fort Logan Mental Health Center was one of the fi rst to automate a relatively comprehensive psychiatric patient record system that became operational in 1961.…”

The design of the clinical and research information system for psychiatry

“…The Clinical and Research Information System for Psychiatry is intended to be a general mental health information system [1] for use in inpatient, outpatient, and community mental health settings. It will incorporate a variety of clinical, evaluation and assessment, and administrative functions, including basic demographic and admissions data, mental status, progress notes, treatment plans, direct patient services, and billing.…”