Monitoring and Controlling of Healthcare Information Systems (HIS)

Abstract

Information management (IM) at a health care institution encompasses the management of information, the management of application systems, and the management of information and communication technology whether computer supported or not, that is, IM provides function, performance, and quality of HIS. Management means, as well, the responsible persons and organizational units as the tasks of planning, directing, and monitoring HIS. IM has to be done systematically to enable an orderly processing of information coherent with the goals of the health care institution. While planning and directing are supported comprehensively by basic methods of strategic planning and project management (Brigl, Ammenwerth, Dujat et al., 2005; Haux, Winter, Ammenwerth, & Brigl, 2004; Winter, Ammenwerth, Bott et al., 2001), the monitoring is neglected sometimes and thus insufficiently supported (Ammenwerth, Ehlers, Hirsch, & Gratl, 2007). As nevertheless a continuous and careful monitoring is a very important task in interaction with all other management tasks, we will define the relevant terms and describe the most significant concepts and methods.