Importing Data from Other Programs and Databases: HL7 Interfaces

Abstract

The timely and accurate acquisition of information (data) from multiple sources is important to the good care of a patient. As an example, consider a pediatrician who is evaluating a 6-year-old girl with short stature who has just moved into town. The first piece of information to acquire is the girl’s growth chart from her previous caregiver. The next pieces of information to acquire are any laboratory values from any previous short stature workup—these values may be in the paper chart from the previous caregiver or they may reside on one or more centralized lab computers. Armed with this information the pediatrician can initiate the next steps in the workup, which may include some standard tests run at the local hospital, some much less common endocrine tests that are sent out to a national lab, and radiographic studies including potentially plain radiographs for bone age and, if indicated, an MRI of the hypothalamic-pituitary region. The more seamlessly the pediatrician is able to access the results of this diagnostic workup, the more efficiently care can be delivered—avoiding, for example, repeating tests when results are unavailable and evidence of a specimen having been sent is unavailable. In the paper world, transport, importation, and integration of this information takes place via fax, mail, manual collation of paper, and filing of paper into the paper record. The analogues in the electronic world are outlined in this chapter.