Item ST 44170.22 Standard Identity Card - Patient Access, Medidata Patient Data Acquisition System, Searle Medical Computer, PDP8/1, 1968-1987

Summary

Patient Access Identity Card (PAIC) for the Medidata Patient Data Acquisition System, used with the Searle Medical Computer. This blue card was the standard PAIC, made by Medidata and used from late 1970s to 1987.

At Admission, the patient registered and received a Patient Access Identity Card. Each card had a unique binary number punched in the plastic in the form of holes. This number identified the current visit of the patient. Each PAIC was then temporarily labelled physically with the patient's name. (The same card could be used for a different patient on another day; the name label being replaced). When the patient was tested at a Data Acquisition Console, the 'punched out' number was first read to identify the patient. It also enabled the patient's test results to be stored in their database record in the PDP8/i.

Physical Description

Blue almost rectangular plastic card with white edging. One corner has been cut off. The back is white with a black strip. The strip has a row of six slots in it.