The issue of collaboration among multiple decision-makers has been the subject of research in fields such as computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) (Weerakkody & Ray, 2003), where it has produced a blueprint for designing collaborative systems for improving team performance (Fitzpatrick & Ellingsen, 2012). Considering that patient management processes are complex, this blueprint has also been applied in healthcare (Fitzpatrick & Ellingsen, 2012). However, most of the healthcare workflow management systems have primarily been concerned with representing workflows or with scheduling activities from a workflow, with less emphasis on coordinated care delivery by an IHT. This is well illustrated with the HealthFlow system (Huser, Rasmussen, Oberg, & Starren, 2011) that offers a set of user-friendly tools for creating and maintaining workflows while providing no direct support for IHT collaboration and coordination. Another example is the HeCaSe2 system (Isern & Moreno, 2010) that was designed to align activities and services across a number of healthcare organizations.
Capability: An ability to perform a certain task from a clinical management workflow.
Coordination: Act of managing interdependencies between tasks performed to achieve a goal.
Multi-Agent System (MAS): A computer system composed of multiple entities (agents) that communicate and work together in order to achieve a common goal.
Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team (IHT): A team involving healthcare practitioners from different fields and specialties (e.g., nurses, physicians, dietitians, therapists).
Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS): Any computer system that helps healthcare practitioners make clinical decisions.
Clinical Management Workflow: A sequence of steps corresponding to clinical tasks and decisions that are aimed at managing a patient with a specific presentation (disease).
Cooperation: Act of working together to achieve a common goal.