Evaluation of UML modeling tools for clinical pathways used in health information systems

For the development of clinical care pathways for the Brazilian hospital information system Pajé, a modeling tool is required. For the selection of this tool, some modeling standards were reviewed, applied and subsequently evaluated. Four modeling tools, zOOml, gmodeler, dia and UMLet were tested and validated for the process of modeling UML diagrams based on predefined requirements. Results show that all chosen modeling tools can be used for the representation of clinical pathways. However, only two of them being Dia and UMLet full filled the requirements of this study. It can be concluded that these tools can be used for E-health applications and cross platform modeling projects. Our results are of value for health information system developers and further e-health related projects.