Uses for this model

This model is designed to enable people concerned or connected with the design, development, commissioning, implementation, operation and final decommissioning of health software and health IT systems from small apps through to complex enterprise-wide networks of connected systems.

The concepts have been designed to provide a common language for organisations involved in the design of international standards however the language is suitable for anyone from system designers through to top management responsible for the delivery of health care.

You can find out more information about the capabilities of this website including accessing the model using semantic web recources (RDF).

The URLs for each concept can be used as a persistent resolvable identifier for the concepts in this model.

Getting started

The model has been structured into topics to group related concepts together.

If you are looking for a particular concept you can search the model. The search covers term names, deprecated names, alternative names, the definition of the concepts, notes and examples of use. It also includes supporting articles including this page.

A useful starting point to help understand this model is to look at a specific topic from the list on this page or to view a concept, from the All Concepts “List of all available topics” page.

The underpinning draft standard

The model builds upon the definitions in the draft International Standard ISO/DIS 81001-1 (IEC/SC 62A) Health software and health IT systems safety, effectiveness and security — Part 1: Foundational principles, concepts, and terms

This standard builds on a wide range of ISO and IEC guides and standards to provide a consolidated foundation

About concept models

Information modelling has the purpose of organising the information objects, each one representing knowledge about a concept. There is however additional information in an information model about the properties of the information objects, shown as attributes to the objects and operations describing behaviour of the objects. These attributes are not included in the concept models.

The model is graphically represented using Universal Modelling Language (UML) notation with textual definitions, notes and examples.