Modeling nursing care in health level 7 reference information model.

This article describes the attempt that was made to fit nursing knowledge into the Reference Information Model developed by Health Level 7 (HL 7 RIM). A part of nursing knowledge concerning pressure ulcer was used to show the possibilities of modeling nursing knowledge, terminology, and information in the Health Level 7 Reference Information Model. The purpose of this modeling work was to allow the integration of nursing information in electronic patient records and to ensure the interoperability and exchange of nursing information. Based on earlier reviews of pressure ulcer literature, an overview was made of relevant variables, coding, and information required for nursing care for pressure ulcer. Next, a use case was made and followed by modeling the required information in the Unified Modeling Language. It is possible to integrate nursing knowledge, terminology, and information requirements in the Health Level 7 Reference Information Model.