Impact of improvement in preoperative oral health on nosocomial pneumonia in a group of cardiac surgery patients: a single arm prospective intervention study.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of an oral health protocol on the incidence of postoperative pneumonia in patients submitted to coronary artery bypass grafting and to valve surgery.

Methods: All patients admitted to a public cardiac surgery hospital were examined by a dentist and had a thorough dentistry anamnesis and an intraoral exam focusing on teeth, gums, and tongue. Patients were taught how to brush their teeth and tongue and how to clean their jugal and palatal membranes.

Transaction processing using remote procedure calls (RPC) for a heterogeneous distributed clinical information system.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital is developing a distributed clinical information system that integrates functionally several UNIX, IBM MVS/CICS and MUMPS computer systems. Distributed application development is accomplished by interprocess communications across Ethernet using remote procedure calls. The remote procedure call (RPC) protocol provides a standard approach to the development of distributed applications using the metaphor of a subroutine call.

Local area networks and the hospital.

Hospital information systems are characterized by their complexity of individual functions, heterogeneity of functions, and dependence upon integration. A distributed computerized information system is well suited to meeting the needs of hospitals. A local area communications network (LACN) removes a major impediment to the use of distributed systems.

A prototype generalized network technology for hospitals: initial implementation.

A demonstration implementation of a distributed data-processing hospital information system using an intelligent local area communications network (LACN) technology is described. This system is operational at the UCSF Medical Center and integrates four heterogeneous, stand-alone minicomputers. The applications systems are PID/Registration, Outpatient Pharmacy, Clinical Laboratory, and Radiology/Medical Records.