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The first computed radiography (CR) unit in Australia was installed at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, in February 1994. An initial qualitative evaluation of the attitude of the intensive care unit (ICU) physicians to the CR unit was conducted in June 1994 by use of a survey. The results of the survey of ICU physicians indicated that images were available faster than under the previous system and that the use of the CR system was preferred to evaluate chest tubes and line placements. While it is recognized that a further detailed radiological evaluation of the CR system is required to establish the diagnostic performance of CR compared with conventional film, some comments on the implementation of the system and ICU physician attitudes to the CR system are put forward for consideration by other hospitals examining the possible use of CR systems.

The introduction of new medical technology needs to be associated with the assessment of the value of this technology in patient care. Traditional outcome measures of quality in health care (such as survival, cost, and "quality of life") may be of little value in assessing quality of patient care at the bedside. A model of quality in bedside patient care is presented and used in the assessment of the impact of introducing a bedside information system on patient care quality.