Healthcare systems
conferences
This is one realm where conferences are especially important.
http://www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare%20Summit/intro.htm - October 18-19, 2006 NIST Gaithersburg Campus Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS November 27 ���?? 28, 2006 St. Andrew���?�s Club and Conference Centre - 150 King Street West, Toronto - http://www.insightinfo.ca/conferences/brochures/brochure.cfm?product_code=HCC06037
Healthcare
Healthcare systems - My fumblings to understand the healthcare system as an outsider. I once asked an expert how to learn HL7 in detail. He said you can only learn it through absorption.
http://healthblogontario.squarespace.com/ - amazing openness.
www.phcsg.org/main/documents/UML%20Model%20for%20HL7%20Clinical%20Document%20Architecture%20version%201.pdf
Having found the UML model of the Document Body in the document nigh-indigestible, I have remodelled it, correcting a few minor errors en-route. I modelled it from the normative part of the document, apart from the Table-related classes, which are not fully described in it. The diagram has not been checked by anyone else, and may contain errors of mine.
Personal Health Record
This is where my own interest lies, including the ability to access, and manipulate data with computers and networks, as well as interacting with healthcare systems and people. The institutions have their own battles. An individual, including non-experts, should have full access to their own information and general system details, for self care and to lever the system.
Massive aggregation should also provide a useful way to correlate and examine life conditions, but this must be done compassionately to not build a system that is only efficient.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_health_record
The challenges are definining interoperable standards that are meaningful so they can be processed by computers and read by people.
OpenEHR
A set of specifications and reference implementations.
UML model for OpenEHR:
http://edodds.blogs.com/conmergence/2006/06/uml_for_openehr.html
Indivo
Indivo is the world's first personally-controlled health record system. It enables a patient to own a complete, secure copy of her medical record, integrating health information across sites of care and over time.
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