Information management systems for intensive care

On-going work relating to the development of advanced information management systems for intensive care is described. The objective of this paper is to outline the complex issues that need to be addressed when developing such systems. This work is in part sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities under the AIM TANIT project, and an overview of its approach is given. Data protection, security and confidentiality aspects are emphasised, together with the need to balance data availability with the need for security.