Clinical information process units (CIPUs) - a system ergonomic approach to medical information systems

This article constitutes an introduction to the basic tools necessary to understand Systems Ergonomics applied to the development of clinical systems. A basic description of clinical patient care in the system ergonomics language is provided, and the current situation found in hospital information management is criticized from an ergonomic point of view. We have laid out a model of the information flow in the clinical environment, which breaks the complex process of patient care in clearly defined elements: the Clinical Information Process Units. Presented here as an example of the application of Systems Ergonomics to the clinical working processes, the Clinical Information Process Units constitute the central element in the system ergonomic model of the information flow in the clinical environment.