Your Guide in the Data Jungle
Anyone who wants to get out of the jungle safe and sound needs one thing in particular: a good guide. Someone who knows the paths, who knows where dangers lurk, who speaks the local language and who always has the right tool ready in the deep pockets of his or her outdoor vest. Someone like VISUS.
JiveX Healthcare Content Management
Not only are we very familiar with the tortuous paths of the medical data jungle, but with JiveX Healthcare Content Management (HCM), we also have the right tools at hand to help reach the destination reliably and quickly. At the start of the journey out of the data jungle, a question arises: Why should we in fact set out on the path? There are many answers to this, but the most important is the fact that medical data form the basis for a successful and high-quality patient care in the future. Either because intelligent algorithms are developed which optimize diagnosis and treatment. Or because they are essential for cross-sector and patient-centered care, which is directly important for healthcare facilities. When by 2021 at the latest each patient is granted the right to be given his or her medical data in electronic form, healthcare facilities will be obligated to prepare data such that they can be handed over in a consolidated and legible fashion.
Determining the Starting Point and Destination
By contrast, each hospital must determine for itself the exact destination to which the data consolidation and structuring must precisely lead. We as VISUS will support you in this process, because we know what requirements and possibilities there may potentially be. Should it go in the direction of the development or completion of an electronic patient record? Or is the development of an IHE XDS structure within groups or regions in demand? The objective which is the right one for a facility depends on various factors: the size, the structures within the facility, the degree of networking with other facilities, the requirements regarding archiving, and the digital starting point. Determining the latter is one of the core tasks, along with the objective, which we clarify together with our customers. Because all involved parties must know exactly where they stand in order to determine the easiest and fastest path to the destination. There are a number of indicators for the exact positioning of your facility within the data jungle. These include, for example, the number of subsystems, type/format and scope of the old data, the range of functions of the HIS, available archive solutions, available communication pathways to partner facilities, authorization concepts, or the amount of paper circulating. Position-fixing of this type sounds simple at first, but it is actually quite a complex process which requires much attention and care. This is because, if the starting position is wrong, there is a great danger of hopelessly going astray off the path.
Planning the Route and Packing the HCM Backpack
If the starting point and destination have been established, we determine the appropriate route together with our customers and divide this into milestones which are reached using the JiveX Healthcare Content Management (HCM).
Step one always and invariably involves the HIS. This is because the necessary patient master data required by the HCM for the management of medical data are waiting here. Data are communicated via HL7 ADT messages which transfer the following information to the HCM: Patient ID, ID number of a case, demographic information, and patient movements, such as transfer or discharge. The first danger is also already lurking in the communication with the HIS: Not every system supports the HL7 ADT message set. To standardize messages and ensure that all information is transmitted correctly, a communication server should therefore be used.
Step two leads in most cases to a consolidation of the medical data within the HCM. The largest hurdle to be overcome in this process is the swamp of various file formats which emerges from the individual subsystems. In order to drain it, the HCM provides gateway tools with which data, independent of the format, can be integrated into the HCM on a patient or case basis. But please note: data, not systems. This is because subsystems retain their independence; only data find their way into the HCM and are converted with its tools into standard medical formats, such as DICOM, PDF/A or CDA. Once this has taken place, the path is clear for the creation of digital file plans.
Establish Order and Enable a Clear View
Step three on the path out of the data jungle involves establishing order and cleaning up the data so that anyone with a legitimate interest can also find them. With JiveX HCM, medical data can be classified according to any number of characteristics, for example, according to specialist department, data format, data type, or examination type. What the digital file plan should look like exactly and which classification is useful depends in turn on the objective and should be determined individually for each institution.
In step four, we generally focus on the development of an archive. For this purpose, the HCM provides various tools which are used according to the archiving concept. In creating the concept, the retention times, the selection of the data to be archived, certain rules for deletion, desired loading processes, networking with other facilities, and of course data privacy play a role. The key is for all medical data to be collected in one archive. This centralized archiving is crucial for clearing the data jungle and approaching the end of the primeval forest.
The fifth step on our path involves looking at all medical data centrally via a workstation, independent of format and point of origin. The corresponding instrument which HCM provides for this purpose is the multi-format viewer. It allows medical information to be filtered analogously to the file plan and viewed on a patient or case basis. The parallel display of different formats is also possible. Healthcare facilities who have cleared the path here are actually already at the destination and have – in the truest sense of the word – an all-around overview of their medical data.
As the sixth step, for the culmination, the exchange of medical data with other facilities and the patient can now be tackled. To do this, the HCM uses relevant IHE profiles such as XDS or XDM. While XDS is a solution for large groups who do not shy away from the development of a uniform master patient index, XDM is suitable for simple communication between the sender and recipient – thus also to the patient. The destination to which and also the speed at which healthcare facilities take the path out of the data jungle is not that crucial. VISUS as a guide and JiveX HCM as equipment are flexible enough to adapt to each requirement – including short breaks now and then. What is crucial is setting off on the path in the first place – everyone else is also doing so.
Here you can find additional articles of the story "Escape the Data Jungle".