Integrating Object Oriented Technology and Security in Medical Database Systems

Abstract

The application of object oriented (OO) technology in the health care sector is of particular interest today, both because of the nature of the field and its social and financial importance. Database security in particular plays an important role in the overall security of medical information systems since not only involves fundamental ethical principles (e.g. privacy and confidentiality), but also essential prerequisites for effective medical care. The development of appropriate secure medical database design and implementation methodologies is therefore an important research problem and a necessary prerequisite for the successful development of such systems. Object oriented techniques can play a decisive role in developing better security systems in this area. There are however a number of problems related to the nature and complexity of the applications and the ill-defined structures involved that have to be addressed first in order to successfully integrate OO technology and security in medical database systems. Some of the potential and limitations of integrating OO technology and security in medical database systems and the European approach to this problem are discussed in this paper and a number of specific implementations are briefly described.