These programs appear to have a level of maturity and utility that makes them valuable in achieving a prompt and detailed treatment plan for hospital staff use. Rabe maintained that computerized treatment planners may not reduce the minutes necessary to prepare the plan, but should effect a more integrated plan-one with more useful details and one that reaches the chart more quickly. This speed could result in earlier endorsement and implementation of the plan and perhaps earlier discharge. Shari Loren, M.S.W., from Tempe, Ariz., discussed the need for software packages that can easily administer a battery of tests directly to the patient and that can chart progress. This can give a visual summary of patient problem areas and improvement that demonstrates to the patient and the reviewers what is happening.
Patients feel more involved and have a way to visualize their progress.
Reviewers can see the specific areas of dysfunction and can see the changes that treatment is producing. Ill. He assisted Teresita Stutzke, Psy.D., in her study of hospitalized depressed patients. T. Bradley Tanner, M.D., presented information about the Internet and the World Wide Web. He reviewed the home pages of the University of Pittsburgh and the Western Psychiatric Institute as well as its links to resources around the world. He also passed out samples of his quarterly journal Hi-Tech Mental Health featuring information about connecting to the Internet.