Medical Record Linkage^[*])^[**])

Die kurzgefaßte Ubersicht versucht die Vorstellung zu reditfertigen, daß es möglicb., ökonomisch und im öffentlichen Interesse sei, einem Teil der Fülle versctaiedenartigster medizinischer Informationen, die über jeden einzelnen Mensdien schriftlich niedergelegt sind, in einem einzigen Satz von stetig ergänzten Unterlagen für ganze Populationen zusammenzufassen.

Die Arbeit behandelt die praktisdien Gesichtspunkte hinsichtlich der Auswahl und der Gültigkeit der Angaben, die Probleme der Personenidentifikation und Beispiele für den Nutzen von derartigen Daten-Verbund-Systemen für den Dienst am Patienten und für die medizinische und die betriebswirtschaftliche Forsdiung. Diskutiert werden weiterhin die mit dem entscheidenden Angelpunkt des Schutzes der persönlichen Sphäre in Zusammenhang stehenden Fragen.

Ein medizinisches Daten-Verbund-System erscheint als die logische Erweiterung des Krankenblatt-Systems der Einzelklinik beziiglich der Bereitstellung von geeigneten Informationen fiir ein integriertes System der Gesundheitsbetreuung der Allgemeinheit. Ein solches System medizinischer Informationen wird in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts ebenso notwendig sein wie die Registrierung der Sterbefälle und die Meldung ansteckender Krankheiten im 19. Jahrhundert.

The paper reviews briefly the justification for the idea that it might be practicable, economic, and in the public interest to integrate some of the mass of diverse medical information which is recorded about individuals into a single series of personal cumulative files for whole populations.

The paper includes sections on the practical considerations relating to the selection and validity of data, the problems of identification of individuals, and examples of the uses of linked files in the service of the patient and in medical and operational research. The problems involved in the crucial issue of the preservation of personal privacy are also discussed.

A system of linked medical records is seen as a logical extension of the unit hospital records system in providing information suitable for an integrated system of medical care for the whole community. It is concluded that such a system of medical Information will be as necessary in the second half of the 20th century as were death registration and notification of infectious diseases in the 19th century.

^*) Vortrag auf der 13. Jahrestagung der GMD, Bochum, 30. Sept. — 2. Okt. 1968

^**) Übersetzt von Z. Melup (New York), L, Sandor (Heidelberg)

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