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VOLUME 23, NUMBER 15
APRIL 16,1976
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Hospital To Get New IBM
Computer System in August
In August of this year, the hospital
will switch from its present
Burroughs/Medi-Data system to a
new computer network designed
jointly by IBM and staff members at
Duke, according to Robert G.
Winfree, acting assistant vice
president for health affairs (planning
and analysis).
The new network promises to be
faster, easier to use, quieter and more
flexible than the present system,
Winfree said.
“Selection of the network, which
has been named the ‘Duke Hospital
Information System’ (D.H.I.S.), was
based on a careful review of all
available hospital computer services,”
the project’s coordinator said.
He explained that 15 different task
forces, representing the major
clinical and service departments, are
currently working to help develop
and design the new system to serve
their individual needs.
“The system is being built by Duke
people for Duke Hospital,” Winfree
said. “It’s a collective effort on the
part of the hospital and IBM.”
The administrator pointed out that
Phase One of the implementation of
D.H.I.S. involves replacing the
services now offered by Medi-Data.
After August, such areas as
outpatient clinics, the operating
room and anesthesiology, among
others, will eventually be added to the
computer network for the first time.
He said data terminal operators
already familiar with Medi-Data will
attend training sessions during the
summer months and noted that skills
needed to operate the new system
will be essentially the same.
“The flexibility and relative
simplicity of D.H.I.S. will also afford
physicians, nurses and other
authorized personnel the
opportunity to use the computer
after a brief introduction to it,”
Winfree said.
“The privacy of patient
information will still be insured,
however, because only people who
have been issued a unique
identification number can gain access
to information.”
When typed into the display
terminal, this number identifies the
user to the computer and allows hirh
or her to obtain only that information
to which he or she is entitled.
One of the more visible differences
between the new system and the
BUT DON'T TRY IT ON YOUR TELEVISION—Edna Lundsford, a data terminal
operator on Long Ward, demonstrates how she will be able to use a light "pen" to
make an entry or summon information from a D.H.I.S. terminal when the system
begins operation in August. Ms. Lundsford said the new devices will be "much
faster" than the present ones and that DTO's who are familiar with Medi-Data will
find the display terminals easier to use. (Photo by David Williamson)
present one, Winfree mentioned, is
that D.H.I.S. terminals use a light
pen and offer a “menu” selection.
Rather than having to type a
special code number into the
terminal each time one wishes to
make an entry or to summon
information, the user simply points a
special “pen” at the desired item on
the display.
A less visible difference is that the
main computer and all of its
accompanying hardware will be
located in the hospital.
Winfree added that D.H.I.S. will
have the capacity to be linked with
other computers located in the
medical center, such as the
Computerized Obstetrics Medical
Record.
The Eating Companion'
Kit Helps Dieters Learn New Eating Habits
By Joe Sigler
Can you learn to diet and lose
weight by tape recorder?
By chewing each bite of food at
least 20 times, and clicking the chews
off on a hand counter?
By using a plate that’s divided into
food-area limits?
By desensitizing yourself to the
appetite-stimulating smells of pizza,
strawberry shortcake, cheese and
chocolate?
Dr. Susan Schiffman, a medical
psychologist here, believes that
people can lose weight with just such
devices, which she has combined into
a weight-loss kit she calls “The Eating
Companion.”
Dr. Schiffman’s approach is
different in another way. She doesn’t
think dieting should be a punishing
experience.
“Most diets teach deprivation,” she
said. “But 1 think it’s absolutely the
worst way to go about it, because at
some point people want to make up
to themselves, to be good to
themselves.” Fhen they overeat to
catch up, she said.
New Eatine Habits
Instead of using deprivation and
guilt and precise counting of calories.
Dr. Schiffman emphasizes the
learning of new eating'habits.
It was, in fact, the calorie question
that got her started on the track
toward “The Eating Companion.”
“I had a group of people who were
overweight try to calculate —just by
grams and pounds and cups — how
much they should eat during the day
the basis of calories,” Dr.
on
SAYINC 'NO' TO SHORTCAKE—Dr. Susan Schiffman displays a "scratch-and-sniff"
strawberry, one of the devices she uses to help people desensitize themselves to the
enticements of food smells. On the table are other parts of the medical
psychologist's "Eating Companion" diet kit. (Photo by ThadSparks)
Schiffman said. “No one below an IQ
of 118 could do it, at all, period. One
person with a 118 IQ managed to do
it in one-half hour.”
Since she believes it takes an
above-average intelligence to
calculate diets on the basis of calories.
Dr. Schiffman uses alternatives to
calorie counting.
Divided Plate
One device is the plate that’s
divided into space for meat, vegetable
and salad.
“If you eat off this plate for three
meals a day, using discretion in what
you put in the spaces designated,”
Dr. Schiffman said, “you can’t go over
1,800 calories. So you just cut down a
little bit on your calories.”
But the main thrust of her
approach is getting people to feel
more satisfied with less food that's
eaten more slowly.
“Obese people,” she said,
“frequently have poor eating
manners. They often put their heads
down and dig into their food, barely
chewing before swallowing. And
often the more overweight people
become, the worse their eating habits
tend to be — no use of a napkin, no
putting down knife and fork.
“I decided that what we had to do
was teach eating habits by counting
chews,” she said.,
(Continued on page 3)