Methodological and architectural keynotes for an integrated multimedia hospital information system

Summary form only given. The key points of the architecture of the distributed information systems of a completely new hospital are discussed. The major aspects relate to the system´s capability of integrating natural language texts into the standard distributed database and providing the user with `intelligent´ query capabilities for retrieving information and knowledge from them. The information system under development will be compatible with some European standards, concurrently being defined by a European consortium of hospitals, computer manufacturers, and software houses. These requirements have also determined the need for adapting and improving various methodological issues for the design activities. The most important and innovative aspects of the project are identified. The system relies on a distributed architecture, in which both data and processes are split on different computers and are able to support the local departmental needs autonomously, as well as communicate with each other for exchanging data in a modality fully transparent to the users