Design of an internet-enabled hospital in the home information system for ambulatory care

The development of a set of Internet-enabled forms and a relational database management system known as "Hospital in the Home Information System" (HHIS) is discussed. HHIS is an information management and communication system for ambulatory care. Hospital patients who can be treated and cared for in their own homes and do not necessarily have to be based in the hospital are assigned to an ambulatory care program. The ambulatory care program is used to manage post-acute, and acute care at home as an alternative to inpatient care. The HHIS system attempts to bring together both hospital and community based aspects of care to these "hospital in the home" patients. The aim of the project is to develop a user-friendly, database-driven system accessible via the Internet, which will replace the current paper-based system. The system design and technologies used in the implementation of the system are outlined, along with a brief description of the trialing of the system.