PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - G. A. W. Dove AU - P. Wigg AU - J. H. C. Clarke AU - Maria Constantinidou AU - B. A. Royappa AU - C. R. Evans AU - Judy Milne AU - C. Goss AU - M. Gordon AU - H. E. de Wardener TI - The therapeutic effect of taking a patient's history by computer DP - 1977 Aug 01 TA - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners PG - 477--481 VI - 27 IP - 181 4099 - http://bjgp.org/content/27/181/477.short 4100 - http://bjgp.org/content/27/181/477.full SO - J R Coll Gen Pract1977 Aug 01; 27 AB - Sixty young women who presented at a general-practice health centre had their medical and social history taken by a computer before having an interview with the doctor. The average length of the automated interview was 90 minutes for the 54 patients who completed the programme, during which an average of 211 questions were answered. The patients found this method acceptable and we think that one of the main reasons for this was that the computer programme was so designed that the patients felt that the doctor was involved throughout. The computer/patient interview also appeared to have therapeutic benefits, and the computer's summary of the history was a sensitive indicator of those topics about which the patient was most concerned. This combination enabled the doctor to communicate more quickly and in greater depth in the time available. In effect, the time which the doctor could spend with the patient was magnified. We suggest that the benefits of this system for taking a history from a patient, of which one is the fact that any language or combination of languages can be used, could be extended to all classes of society.