Neuroepidemiology
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Since the 1970s, the care of critically ill neurologic and neurosurgical patients has emerged as a developing subspecialty. Management of these patients involves an enormous amount of data generation and analysis. Review of the history of neuroepidemiology and neurocritical care demonstrates the inevitability of their present unwiedly burden of information. ⋯ Several investigators have initiated information management projects including automation of beside clinical documentation, development of systems for remote access to information and patient registries to study the natural history and outcome of specific neurological conditions. These are steps toward the development of integrated systems to aid in patient monitoring, data management, continuous quality improvement and the generation of hypotheses for further clinical investigation. Improvements in information management technology will allow increased efficiency in an era where information generation continues to increase exponentially.