Description

Technical Standards and the Development and Integration of Health Care Information Systems

Technical standards play an essential role in the facilitation of health care information system interoperability, and there are a number of health informatics-focused organizations—both within the United States and on an international level—that work actively to coordinate and promote the adoption of these standards.

To prepare for this Application Assignment, review this week's Resources.

To complete this Application Assignment, write a 1- to 2-page paper that explains why technical standards are needed in the development and integration of health care information systems. Then, select three specific technical standards for health information technology (one identifier standard, one general communications standard, and one specific communications standard) and research each of these standards through a literature review. For each of these three standards, be sure to identify the health informatics-focused organization that coordinates the standard and explain the reason(s) that the organization promotes the standard.

RESOURCES:

https://cdnfiles.laureate.net/2dett4d/managed/WAL/NSEI/6600/07/WAL_NSEI6600_07_B_EN.pdf

• Course Text:Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. 
  
  
  • Chapter 14, “Information Networks and Information Exchange”

This chapter in the text examines important issues related to systems integration and interoperability. It identifies key points for consideration during the integration process, including factors that can impede the process. It also discusses the important role that standards play in the integration process as well as the long term operability of systems.

• Article: Hammond, W. (2004). The role of standards in electronic prescribing. Health Affairs, 23, 325–327. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=15592361&site=ehost-live&scope=site
  
  This article defines the system functionalities that are required and desirable to ensure patient safety and quality of care. Health data standards are a prerequisite for the interoperability to support electronic prescribing. It also discusses some of the barriers and problems in producing and adopting those standards.