Software Engineering in Health Care
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an increasingly important role in addressing the global challenges of healthcare, in both the developed and the developing world. Software systems are needed to support the collection and processing of the vast amounts of data that healthcare professionals need for patient care, and that policy makers need to support their decision-making.
Software systems can be developed for managing, controlling and monitoring policies, processes and workflows in medical systems, and are essential to the implementation of electronic health records. However, this reliance on software raises challenging issues related to safety, security and privacy. How do we maintain the integrity of these vital systems during the design process?
UNU-IIST has begun research projects on software engineering in healthcare. The projects apply the institute’s model-driven approach to software development (see Method of Model-Driven Development of Component-Based Software). The aim is to develop specific techniques for the design of healthcare applications, the management of healthcare policies, and processes and workflows that are safe and secure. UNU-IIST has joint research and developments projects with researchers at the University of Macau, Macau Polytechnic Institute and Macau University of Science and Technology.
One of these projects looks at developing a secure architecture for electronic health records. Another considers a healthcare information system and workflow for practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, whose holistic practices make the challenges of design more complex.
These partnerships form the base of what is planned as an international collaborative network in the area of healthcare-software development.
- SAFEHR: Secure Architecture of Electronic Health Records.
- TCM@NET: Traditional Chinese Medicine Online Service Expert Systems