The present article will focus on presenting the various ways according to which a health care system can be classified.
* Therefore, a first class is represented by patient centered IS . They are actually the electronic version of patients' information. Terms such as electronic patient record (EPR) or computer based patient record (CPR) systems are usually associated with this type of health information system. The tasks of such system are to manage comprehensively patient care information, including medical records, theatre management, appointment scheduling and ward reporting.
* A second type of HIS are called clinical IS that separately administer specialized service of clinical departments. Patient monitoring systems and anesthesia documentation system are examples of such type. As the specific tasks of CIS are concerned, the main ones are to collect specific data for patient care, to manage, plan and maintain national data repositories. These particular tasks are distributed accordingly to departments such as internal medicine, neurology, cardiology, obstetrics, psychiatry and surgery. The purposes to which these activities are subordinated are represented by administrative support, decision support, picture archiving, image analysis, patient data collection, monitoring, reporting, evaluation and research.
* Radiology IS are the ones which endorse the acquisition and analysis of radiological images, but also fulfill administrative functions of radiology departments.
* Laboratory IS are designed and created in order to perform data validation, administration, electronic transmission and computer storage. Due to the fact that this system is used in different hospitals, it must interface with various instruments and other information systems, such as LIS. The latter mentioned defines a highly configurable application that facilitates a broad range of laboratory workflow models. It is highly useful when many tests are performed, generating large data. They fully and automatically analyze samples, processing computer generated results. The major contribution of this type of system resides in that it helps clinicians to analyze trends and evaluate treatment effects.
* A fifth class is represented by pharmacy IS , which primarily are used to maintain medication information. Keeping patients' records, checking prescriptions and providing drug prescriptions are among the major functions of this type of health information system.
* Hospital IS comprises a series of integrated hospital information systems such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE), patient care information systems, nursing documentation systems, general practitioner IS and others. The functionality of the hospital information systems covers the operational, tactical and strategic levels of healthcare activities.
* Telemedicine is a HIS supported by electronic processes and communication, facilitating the exchange between primary care physicians, specialists and patients from disperse locations.