Ongoing development of the Critical Care Information System: the collaborative approach to automating information management in an intensive care unit.

Point-of-care (bedside) clinical information systems can fulfill a variety of functions. Included in these functions are: becoming receptacles for patient data and allowing data to be manipulated into formats that facilitate clinical decision making; functioning as sources for billing and auditing processes; interfacing to other hospital systems and bringing distant data to the bedside; and being a repository for information used in the development of hierarchical and/or relational databases. The initial and ongoing development of these systems in a dynamic clinical environment requires the construction of processes and work pathways to ensure that the needs and requirements of myriad personnel, departments and agencies within the health center milieu are addressed.