The earlier discussion was generating some light, alas replaced by heat.
At the risk of picking the scab, from a user requirement perpsective I
wondered whether both sides were right. ie, sometimes a GP would be
happy to only look at a lab result, other times he'd want to take a copy
of it to incorporate into the patient's record. An XRay image is an
obvious if rare example of the former.
So, web based remote access for look-at stuff. EDIFACT inappropriate.
Something else for taking a copy. What?
Guiding criteria should include simplicity and cost. Simplest and
cheapest thing I can think of is:
- GP, having looked at result, clicks YES to DO YOU WANT A COPY? box
(this could be more focused, ie GP clicks on results of interest)
- at lab end a template MS Access form gets its structured and waiting
fields filled up relevant data. - form is emailed to GP as an attachment
to an MS Mail SMTP email.
- GP system extracts data from form and incorporates into waiting fields,
or simply stores the form attached to the patient's record. Is
this rocket science? Assuming scrambling and unscrambling at either end,
only problem I see other than a few week's work is that poor old Trust
system has to maintain a protocol for each and every GP system it is
expected to communicate with. But given that the great bulk of
communication is local and pretty invariant, shouldn't be a problem.
As for IoS and Registration, what's wrong with the most tried, tested,
and cheapest methods in the world: file transfer and batch processing.
Any GP system can be induced to output a structured file routinely or on
demand. It could then be sent over NHSnet virtually free via Internet
Protocol using FTP and processed at the other end in batch.
Comments? Bear in mind my odd position: neither user nor tekkie. Danger
of getting each wrong :-< but well able to recognise significant lack of
startling success with centre-led projects and x400/ EDIFACT approach.
Alan Hyslop
Computing & IT Strategy
Management Executive
Scottish Health Service
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