gms | German Medical Science

Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007

17. bis 21.09.2007, Augsburg

Migration from legacy to advanced approaches for semantic interoperability

Meeting Abstract

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  • Diego M. Lopez - Klinikum der Universität Regensburg, Regensburg
  • Bernd G.M.E Blobel - Klinikum der Universität Regensburg, Regensburg
  • Kjeld Engel - Klinikum der Universität Regensburg, Regensburg

Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007. Augsburg, 17.-21.09.2007. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2007. Doc07gmds616

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2007/07gmds616.shtml

Published: September 6, 2007

© 2007 Lopez et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Introduction: For meeting the challenge for efficient, high quality and sustainable public health services, supporting information systems require advanced inter-domain information exchange functionalities.

Methods: Semantic interoperability is based on harmonized knowledge representation in order to avoid ambiguities in information interpretation. For computer processable semantic interoperability knowledge modeling requires the use of formal models. HL7 RIM/DIMs and Archetypes are in progress semi-formal ontologies for domain knowledge representation. Controlled terminologies and vocabulary are complementary approaches for concepts representation.

Results: The migration from an information system for notifiable disease surveillance towards a future-proof semantically interoperable and service-oriented architecture is presented in the paper. The legacy solution (SIVIGILA Information System [1]) is a client/server application based on the use of XML Documents and Schemas for epidemiological information management. XML Schemas allow flexibility information structure management. The new system architecture consist of 1) models for the surveillance processes based on national polices and rules [2] (harmonized Business Model), 2) models for the information based on the HL7 Public Health Reporting Domain Information [3] (harmonized Information Models) and 3) models for the system’s services based on HL7 RLUS, EIS and CTS services definitions (harmonized Computational Model) [4].

Discussion and Conclusions: Domain concepts are defined in the Business Models. The use of national polices assures a common vocabulary avoiding semantic misunderstandings. Information models based on domain reference information models provide semantic information integration, sharing and reuse, improved flexibility and reliability. The computational model based on services provides adaptability to business process dynamicity and reusability at different levels of the health system. HL7 is at the moment the more comprehensive source of domain knowledge but it still lacks of formalization to fulfil the requirements of intelligent semantic interoperability. The situation can be improved by using more formal languages, e.g. OCL, OWL, etc.


References

1.
Martinez A, López DM, Sáez A, Seoane J, Rendón A Shoemaker RG, Fernández I. Improving Epidemiologic Surveillance and Health Promoter Training in Rural Latin America through ICT. Telemed J E Health. 2005 Aug;11(4):468-76
2.
Decreto 3518 de 2006. Sistema de Vigilancia en Salud Pública, Ministerio de la Protección Social, República de Colombia, 2006.
3.
Public Health Reporting Domain Information Model, HL7 Inc. Health Level Seven V3. Normative Edition 2006, 2006
4.
SOA4HL7. Healthcare Services Specification Project. http://hssp.wikispaces.com/ External link