Cyberdoc explains medical procedures.

Imagine an attentive, caring physician taking half an hour to make sure you fully understand the risks of a medical procedure you're facing, as well as possible alternatives to it. Sound like a blast from the past in this era of managed care? No, it's more like the wave of the future, thanks to information technology. An interactive computer system unveiled last week may make your next visit to the doctor a multimedia experience.

The system, known as the Patient Advise and Consent Encounter (PACE), enlists touch-screen technology, animation, and an actor-doctor narrator to guide patients methodically through the biology and risks of 13 different obstetric and gynecologic procedures. PACE also describes alternative treatments. Topics include vaginal birth after cesarean section, tubal ligation, and breast lumps.

Like a CD-ROM encyclopedia, PACE allows patients to skim over familiar topics yet explore in more detail areas they don't understand. At the end of each section, the narrator gives the patient an "interactive quiz" to ensure that she comprehends both explored and unexplored topics. Finally, both the patient and the physician get a printout of the entire session.

The physician's printout "alerts the doctor to any types of inconsistencies or indications that the patient really didn't understand either the condition or the procedure so that she can make a truly informed consent," says Larry P. Griffin, director of program services for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. PACE enhances physician-patient communications, a prospect that Griffin says could significantly decrease the number of malpractice suits brought against these medical specialists.

At least one major malpractice insurer agrees. Physicians who employ PACE in their practices get a 5 percent discount on their premiums from P.I.E. Mutual of Cleveland. Given that incentive, physicians may be eager to introduce their patients to the newest cyberdoc.