Enabling pervasive healthcare by means of event-driven service-oriented architectures: The case of bed management in mid-sized to large-sized hospitals

Abstract

Healthcare providing organizations have achieved considerable achievements in efficiency and effectiveness due to the use of Information Systems (IS) in the past. However, focus was generally targeted towards "managerial IS", often resulting in additional efforts for doctors and nurses. This paper proposes event-driven service oriented architecture as a means for improving the convenience of care delivery, i.e. the satisfaction of care providers and patients, while at the same time improving performance of back-end processes. Based on the case of pervasive bed-management this paper exemplifies how IS can be integrated with smart devices to create value in such a specialized and inherently event-driven context as can be found in hospitals.