In theory at least clinicians or administrators can access that information electronically. In practice few really do so. Asking doctors to log on to several different systems, each with its own interface, is just not realistic, says Mark Newman, project leader for the Web development team at University of Pennsylvania Health Systems in Philadelphia. That's why Penn Health is rolling out a Web portal through which users can access most of the hospital's systems. The portal is based on roles, each of which can access different kinds of information.
People can have multiple roles.
For example, someone may be a doctor and a member of a specific department. Members of each department will be able to access information specific to their department such as rosters, contact information, calendars of events or changes in polices and procedures. Newman says that while creating the portal's interface requires careful thought and a lot of consultation with end-users, the ultimate challenge will be integration. He says there are three types of systems in the hospital, each requiring a different integration strategy. If the system already runs over Web technologies, such as the health care group's EKG system, the primary integration requirement is to identify the portal as an authorized user of the EKG system.