AURA: Routine Documentation of Medical Texts

At the Department of Radiology of the University of Graz the free text documentation system AURA has been in use for more than ten years. All reports from special examination in radiology and surgical reports from neurosurgery are routinely stored and processed for retrieval. The system is used as a data base for case retrieval, for the immediate display of patient information from previous examinations and to provide feedback by linking the results of different examinations. The role of free text processing in the development of a Hospital Information System is discussed.