CCTOS Common : Agent
Version 8.1
- Objectives:
- Definition of the generic concept of Agent from a
groupware point of view.
- Centralized management of common properties related to
agent, particularly:
- Authetications
- Permission profiles
- Electronic signatures
- Summary:
- Derived from Item.
- Scope:
- Generic properties of the actors appearing in the
context of healtcare projects, typically:
- Healthcare professionals, doctors, nurse,
secretaries, technicians, ....
- Although an agent is usually a person or a group of
persons, it could also be an informatics procedure, maintained under
the responsibility of a person. Indeed an informatics process could
also be seen as agents.
- In principle also the patient himself or his
representative, since it should be possible to provide accesss to own
medical information.
- Groups of Agents:
- Management
of groups of Agents having some common properties and to be seen as one
global Agent, without knowing in advance who will be included in the
group. For example an emergency department seen as one
entity, regardless who was working at a given time.
- A team has an
identification and a team leader, while the persons inside the team may
change over time. For example where no other details are known,
the director of an hospital represent the whole hospital.
- An important type of agent is the current care
team, i.e. the group of agent in charge of the patient and having
his/her agreement. See below.
- Approaches:
- Maintenance of the properties of Agents, locally and/or
in
synchronization with
external data bases. Journal of modifications,
including Agent responsible of the registration/modification.
- Authentication procedures:
- Most system need at least a password.
- Communication should always be encrypted.
- More advanced procedures based on a token.
- Maybe seeking information in an external LDAP.
- Authorization
profile of the agent, i.e. what the Agent is allowed to do.
- Management of delegations:
- Every responsible agent should always be identified
on its own. That said delegations
of authorization profiles to other Agents should be possible. For
example
delegation of some tasks by a doctor to a secretary.
- Management
of aliases :
- an Agent may
have > 1 identifications, on condition it must unambiguous.
- Declaration of
probable links between Agents,
waiting to be validated a little later by a qualified
authority,
after verification.
- Merge, and possible un-merge,
of data belonging to the same Agent.
- The same physical person could have > 1 role.
This
means to be seen as several independent functional Agents linked to the
same physical person.
- Responsibility
issues, electronic signature.
- ...