EN 13940-1:2007

Health informatics - System of concepts to support continuity of care - Part 1: Basic concepts

Publication date:   Oct 30, 2007

Scope

Main purpose
Continuity of care implies the management of health information in two different perspectives:
local management of information about the subject of care, at the site of care provision;
information interchange between health care providers.
NOTE Record management: Continuity of care requires that every contact and every health care provider activity, in or out of the presence of the subject of care, be recorded. Those health care activities that are performed by health care third parties should also be recorded in order to support continuity. If ever a contact or a health care activity is not recorded, while it remains a contact or health care activity, its contribution to seamless or integrated care can be ignored, and continuity of care jeopardized.
This European Standard seeks to identify and define those processes which relate to the continuity of health care provided to human beings (to the exclusion of other living subjects). It specifically addresses aspects of sharing subject of care related information needed in the process of health care. It identifies and defines relevant data and information flows, together with their relationships to "time slots".
In order to support the delivery of high quality care to each subject of care, and to facilitate continuity of care, a full understanding is needed of the temporal aspects of the delivery of health care, the role of each party in the health care process, and their interaction in the subject's of care environment. The concepts describing the characteristics of the ongoing process of care should not differ in nature from those that are used to structure and organise the data locally in the Electronic Health Record.
This European Standard addresses such topics as:
a) organisational principles of health care;
b) health care actors, health care parties, subjects of care, health care providers, provider organisations, health care professionals and third parties;
c) health issues and their man