Conceptual Model of Health Information Ethics as a Basis for Computer-based Instructions for Electronic Patient Record Systems

A computer-based learning system called Electronic Patient Record (EPR) Laboratory has been developed for students to acquire knowledge and practical skills of EPR systems. The Laboratory is basically for self-learning. Among the subjects dealt with in the system is health information ethics. We consider this to be of the utmost importance for personnel involved in patient information handling. The variety of material on the subject has led to a problem in dealing with it in a methodical manner. In this paper, we present a conceptual model of health information ethics developed using UML to represent the semantics and the knowledge of the domain. Based on the model, we could represent the scope of health information ethics, give structure to the learning materials, and build a control mechanism for a test, fail and review cycle. We consider that the approach is applicable to other domains.