The importance of hospital information systems (HIS) is unquestionable: they are an integral tool in facilitating the management of a hospital's medical and administrative information, thereby improving the quality of health care. Drs. Van de Velde and Degoulet's book, Clinical Information Systems: A Component-Based Approach, will detail the many components involved in the implementation of HIS. The book will feature several case studies from North America and Europe that serve to illustrate these components. The book will detail the extension of HIS to multi-site environments, which are implemented in an effort to better serve the public. Such extended networks are called community health information systems (CHIS) or networks (CHIN). Clinical information systems (CIS) is used in the direct management of the patient, and this book focuses on the implementation of an integrated and comprehensive CIS. Designed for use by all healthcare professionals, the book's chapter highlights include: Introduction: The Evolution of Health Information Systems; Frameworks: A Collection of Business Objects; The Patient Component; The Medical Record Component; The Knowledge Component; The Resource Management Component; The Security Component; and Imaging Management and Integration. The addition of case studies illustrates the role of these components, and a Glossary provides invaluable definitions for the reader's easy reference.

Since the publication of Hospital Computer Systems, edited by Morris F. Collen in 1974, many reviews have appeared presenting sound analyses and evaluations of the of hospital information systems (HIS). Many of latest developments and design them were published within the IMIA Working Group 10 which is devoted to HIS but still an updated and critical overview was lacking which reviews what has been achieved since then and which also takes a inspired glance into the future. As the quotation from Romain Rolland introducing this latest work by Rudi van de Velde states "/ love and admire the past but I would like the future to be even better. " Hence, it is noteworthy to point out that this book includes topics ranging from "Trends in Medical Informatics, Setting the Scene" to "HIS in the Years Ahead" and dealing separately with hospital management concerns and medical applications. Hospital management is the field wholly supported by the HIS, since it deals with transactions issued by the team of patient care professionals about the patients and, as such, handles computer communications between the more or less autonomous substructures of the hospital, including central and costly resources such as laboratories, radiology departments and pharmacies, and links medical and administrative services (as Marion J. Ball already pointed out when she undertook to categorize the HIS).

Hospital information systems (HIS) have become integral tools in the management of a hospital's medical and administrative information. With illustrated case studies, this book emphasizes clinical information systems (CIS) and their use in the direct management of the patient. Topics include the medical record, security, resource amangement, and imopaging integration.