Basics of computerizing a treatment center. (includes related article on the history of computers)

Computers affect many aspects of our lives. Our cars are controlled by computers, our credit and financial information are determined by computers, and even letters and information are shared almost instantaneously by computerized fax and electronic mail systems.

However, those of us working in the addiction and psychiatric fields find it normal and even acceptable that the entire record of clinical care is handled by handwritten collections of paper, piles of paper we call the medical record. The clinical aspects of addiction medicine and psychiatry are performed almost exactly as they were at the turn of the century.

All of us who work in the addiction ...