ABSTRACT
Current demands of the healthcare industry require the use of information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) to deliver care that is safe, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable (Committee-on-Quality-Health-Care-in-America 2001; Chaudhry et al. 2006). Nevertheless, as IT and IS evolve and become essential components of clinical practice, the complexity of developing and implementing systems and applications that support clinical information flow and workflow increases. Additionally, replacing electronic systems that merely reproduce the previous paper-based workflow can potentially lead to unsafe processes and inefficient information flow. Therefore, comprehensive understanding and definition of the components of the modern radiation oncology practice, the underlying processes, and the social infrastructure of a specific organization or clinical environment is essential for the successful development, evaluation, and implementation of IT/IS applications that will support safe, effective, and efficient information flow and workflow (Berg 1999; Ammenwerth et al. 2003, 2004; Garde et al. 2006).
