Introducing guideline management in the healthcare information system architecture

This paper analyses different benefits of the full integration of components for clinical guideline management in the information system architecture of a healthcare organization. Subsequently, we propose a methodology for the development of these components based on the European prEN12967 standard, in order to facilitate this integration. Benefits are studied from several viewpoints. First, from the healthcare professional user viewpoint, as a powerful decision support tool, by which the Electronic Health Record of a specific patient could suggest the appropriate guidelines to apply and a particular assistance plan for him or her. We are centered in co-morbidity patients because these tasks are especially difficult to accomplish in this kind of patients. Second, from the guideline creation viewpoint, we analyze how the tacit knowledge implicit in the healthcare information system could be the base for the explicit representation of knowledge in a guideline and the posterior validation of these guidelines. Our approach is in agreement with today's new paradigm for evidence-based medicine demanded by healthcare professionals. The proposed method for guideline management components development is compliant with CEN's prEN12967 European standard, and consequently follows ITU-T's ODP methodology.