Health Informatics Standards

Abstract

This chapter introduces readers to the world of health information standards and standards development organizations. The chapter provides insight into the relationship between standards and nursing practice and how they relate to evidence in practice. The definitions and purpose of standards are explored, as well as the development and approval processes of international standards development organizations. Conformance and relevance to nursing practice are also covered from an international perspective.

Glossary

AHQR

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

ANA

American Nurses Association

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

CEN

European Standards Organisation

Consumer Informatics

The use of modern computers and telecommunications to support consumers in obtaining information, analyzing unique health care needs and helping them make decisions about their own health

Clinical guidelines

Systematically developed statements to assist practitioners and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific circumstance

HI standard

A document, established from evidence and by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, in the field of information for health, and Health Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

HIPAA

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

HL7

Health Level Seven

HL7 RIM Reference Information Model

Represent an approach to clinical information exchange based on a model driven methodology that produces messages and electronic documents expressed in XML syntax

ICF

International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health

ICN

The International Council of Nurses

ICNP

International Classification of Nursing Practice

ISA

Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) is a process which represents the model by which the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will coordinate the identification, assessment, and determination of “recognized” interoperability standards and implementation specifications for industry use to fulfill specific clinical health IT interoperability needs.

ISO

International Organization of Standardization

ISO defines a standard as

A document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context

JIC

Joint Initiative Council

LOINC

Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes

NHS

National Health Service

RIM

Reference Information Model

SMS

Short Message Service

SNOMED Clinical Terms

Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine a systematic computer processable collection of medical terms in human and veterinary medicine

TVS

Tissue Viability Society

UMLS

Unified Medical Language System

Usability

The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use

WHO

World Health Organisation

XML

Extensible Mark Up Language is a computer markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable