MEDMICRO Professional Health Risk Analysis Program

For IBM PC and compatibles. $259.00. Usually I am a klutz about getting new programs started. Once I am in them I learn fast, but installing them is another matter. MEDMICRO's Professional Health Risk Analysis Program, however, taught me a new one: I was able to install and run the program easily; I just couldn't get out! I could not exit the program until I provided an authorization number that I didn't have; I finally had to reboot the system to get out. I assume that this occurred because the program was sent for review and not to an individual, but one would think a company would take extra care to make sure a review copy came fully equipped. Not to worry, however, because the program is a breeze to get going, and your patients will like the program, if they like sermons. In contrast to other risk assessment programs I have seen, which save up all of the bad news and sermons until the end, every time the patient using this program indicates a physical or moral lapse, the program immediately gives the patient a lecturette. My first lecture was about weight, the next about driving too much (at 12,000 miles per year). The program takes to heart the psychologists' recommendations about rapid feedback, but milliseconds is almost too fast. The lectures, however, are clear, to the point, and clarify the dangers that might ensue from that risk factor. You must be certain your patient is emotionally ready to be upbraided for smoking, for example, and told that his or her risk of lung cancer and emphysema is high because of it. The wrap-up consists of giving your patient the median survival expectancy for his or her age, sex, racial group (i.e., that age to which about 50 percent would survive), and then the median survival expectancy for him or her. I liked the program's telling me I could expect to live 7.7 years longer than average. I might, however, have had a myocardial infarction if I had been the patient I invented (one with almost every conceivable risk factor)-she would have lived 15.5 fewer years than expected. I am not sure whether this finale is the best way to conclude for all patients; the physician will have to explain to many the meaning of the median survival expectancy. The instructions have a disclaimer about its absolute accuracy but …