This series in Computers and Medicine had its origins when I met Jerry
Stone of Springer-Verlag at a SCAMC meeting in 1982. We determined that
there was a need for good collections of papers that would help
disseminate the results of research and application in this field. I had
already decided to do what is now Information Systems for Patient Care,
and Jerry contributed the idea of making it part of a series. In 1984
the first book was published, and-thanks to Jerry's efforts - Computers
and Medicine was underway. Since that time, there have been many
changes. Sadly, Jerry died at a very early age and cannot share in the
success of the series that he helped found. On the bright side, however,
many of the early goals of the series have been met. As the result of
equipment improvements and the consequent lowering of costs, com- puters
are being used in a growing number of medical applications, and the
health care community is very computer literate. Thus, the focus of
concern has turned from learning about the technology to understanding
how that technology can be exploited in a medical environment.