THE PROCESS OF DERIVING REQUIREMENTS FOR A HOSPITAL INFORMATION-SYSTEM

This paper describes the process through which a small regional oncology hospital derived information and implementation requirements for an organization-wide information system. In part, this was in response to the recent changes in the UK National Health Service. The project was conducted in the action research tradition, combining both practical and theoretical goals, and took a stakeholder perspective. A range of methods were used to explore the issues of information and organizational needs, including questionnaires, interviews, discussion groups and `tracer' studies. As a result of the intervention, a framework of information needs and an implementation strategy were drawn up as a plan for the hospital's continuing work in this area.