Publets: concept and requirements

The Internet is now a major channel for publishing medical research data and documents, including clinical practice guidelines. It is now possible to capture guidelines in a computer interpretable form opening up the capability of using the internet to deliver patient-specific management advice. A technology based on extensions to the PROforma guideline technology and a development lifecycle for publishing and delivering such services at the point of care are described. As with all new technologies, however, the new methods entail risks as well as opportunities. The paper closes with a discussion of quality and safety requirements for the new technologies and some possible techniques.