How are changes tracked and documented for audit purposes in healthcare documentation projects using DITA?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

In healthcare documentation projects that use DITA XML, it’s crucial to track and document changes for audit purposes. Healthcare organizations need to ensure that their content aligns with the latest medical standards and regulations, and this requires meticulous change tracking and documentation to maintain compliance. DITA offers a structured framework for managing these changes efficiently.

One way to track changes in healthcare documentation using DITA is by implementing a change tracking system. This system can involve the use of attributes or elements within the DITA XML structure to record information about changes, such as the date of the change, the person responsible for the change, and the nature of the change. This enables healthcare organizations to maintain an audit trail of all modifications to the documentation, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Example:

Here’s an example of how change tracking can be implemented in DITA XML:

<!-- Example of change tracking in DITA XML -->
<topic id="med-guidelines" version="2.0" modified-by="JohnDoe" modified-date="2023-10-15">
  <title>Medical Guidelines</title>
  <body>
    <p>These guidelines have been updated to reflect the latest medical research findings.</p>
    <p>Version 2.0 includes changes recommended by Dr. Smith on 2023-10-10.</p>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, the DITA topic “Medical Guidelines” includes attributes like “version,” “modified-by,” and “modified-date” to track changes. This information can be used for auditing and verification purposes to ensure that healthcare documentation complies with medical best practices and guidelines.