Framework for a clinical information system

The current status of our work towards the design and implementation of a reference architecture for a Clinical Information System is presented. This architecture has been developed and implemented based on components following a strong underlying conceptual and technological model. Common Object Request Broker and n-tier technology featuring centralised and departmental clinical information systems as the back-end store for all clinical data are used. Servers located in the 'middle' tier apply the clinical (business) model and application rules to communicate with so-called 'thin client' workstations. The main characteristics are the focus on modelling and reuse of both data and business logic as there is a shift away from data and functional modelling towards object modelling. Scalability as well as adaptability to constantly changing requirements via component driven computing are the main reasons for that approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.