A system utilizing a personal identification badge to collect data and to provide access to a computer terminal. The personal identification badge includes circuitry and transceiver components for transmitting identification information and exchanging other digital information with a computer terminal and other compatible devices. The personal identification badge establishes a wireless communication link with a computer terminal to allow a user to logon to the terminal. When a user leaves the computer terminal, the communication link is terminated, causing the computer terminal to lock the keyboard, blank the monitor, and/or logoff the user if the communication link is not restored within a sufficient time period. The personal identification badge includes means for encrypting and signing digital information. Adapted for use within a hospital, the system provides further means for establishing an affiliation between a personal identification badge and a patient, for collecting digital information from electronic devices that record or gather data regarding the status of a patient, for digitizing and recording dictation spoken into the personal identification badge, and for modifying the digital information so collected to conform to standards, such as those of a Java applet or the hypertext markup language, for interactive display on a universal display browser.