Several current changes in the context within which health data are collected and used must be recognized. At the same time, medical science has come to accord much more importance to such ordinary life factors as diet and stress as determinants of health, and therefore addresses them in medical care. Second, of course, health care has been evolving into systems , and systems of systems . As a consequence, the traditional clinician's notes, scribbled down or dictated and later transcribed, and then locked up in filing cabinets, increasingly are being recorded along with other files in electronic media, usually networked.
Many advantages are evident for billing and paying, administrative review, and research.
Public-health records are being computerized just as quickly. These visionary technical developments, which are very exciting but not without negative aspects, are being explored diligently by many institutions. Although definitions need not be belabored here, a few concepts and items of vocabulary are necessary. Data is taken to mean discrete bits of information. For most research now, data are converted into numerical form for processing by computers.