Aspects of system design for novice computer users are discussed and existing CAL systems for educating patients in the hospital clinic and family practice environments are reviewed. A CAL program developed and tested on patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis for use in family practice and the hospital clinic is described. 1 Introduction Patients come from a wide range of social and educational backgrounds and educating them on medical subjects needs to be carefully tailored to their abilities and requirements. If a patient does not get adequate information from his doctor, he will probably turn to friends and relatives, the lay press, and other unreliable sources which may mislead him, giving advice about conditions from which he does not suffer. Patients are beginning to understand that medical knowledge is not the exclusive property of health care professionals.
Poor understanding leads to poor co-operation with treatment regimens.
Other factors affecting compliance are doctors' attitudes and patient forgetfulness. Patients appreciate and gain enormously from appropriate information, and benefit from things such as better quality of life, acceptance of their condition, correct use of medication. They experience a reduction in psychosomatic symptoms and make fewer demands on health care resources. The most common ways of teaching patients are verbally, and by using leaflets and booklets. Computers are now being introduced to supplement these methods, but have not yet come into widespread use.