At the Heidelberg University Hospital the conventional paperbased medical record is currently being replaced by a “unique” electronic patient record (EPR). This paper describes the stepwise integration of an EPR based on digital-optical archiving and multi-purpose health professional workstations. It focuses on the potentials of digital optical archiving as an integral part of hospital information systems. So far, the EPR has been introduced in the central archive of the “head clinic”, the Neurosurgical Clinic and the inpatient archive, the endoscopy and sonography section of the Department of Internal Medicine.