Integrating clinical and managerial activities of health care units

The first step in understanding information systems in health care units (HCUs) is to develop a conceptual model of HCU able to gather data and knowledge used by the management staff in order to plan, execute, control and evaluate the patient care process. An approach to HCU management modelling is presented in the paper. Our approach is centred on the use of guidelines for all activities which are carried out in HCU environments. Various guidelines may exist. Some of them are clinical, others are managerial. Among the most important managerial guidelines are the communication guidelines. They govern all communication activities inside or between HCUs. A model of guideline-based inter-HCUs communication is presented.