| |September 201819still saddled with the challenge that most healthcare informa-tion systems cannot exchange in-formation between them. Either the standards are not complete-ly implemented, or national im-plementation guidelines simply do not exist. These causes unac-ceptable risk to patients, ineffi-cient use of healthcare resources and sub-optimal development of medical knowledge. The reasons attributed to the lack of standardisation are: · complex nature of healthcare, the different agencies that come to-gether to dispense the same,· variations in information ex-change requirements that exist within different specialities, coun-tries and organisations, · diverse requirements and rapidly changing technologies, · different clinical pathways, practices and protocols that are followed by practitioners and organisations· new software tools · standards and procedures from a large number of affiliated non-health organisations,· Innate resistance to change with-in a large installed base of differ-ent systems owned and operated by different organisations in the net-work of collaborating healthcare entitiesBenefits of StandardisationIn cases where standards have been implemented, we have ob-served radical improvements in the areas of · A holistic approach to treatment leading to positive patient out-comes in terms of reduction in complication rates, morbidity, mor-tality, length of stay and costs lead-ing to positive patient experiences· Clinical care pathways, evidence based medicine and CPOE· Standardised procedures and con-sistency in care dispensation· Consistency around patient priva-cy and security· Integrated ability to manage data and run Analytics and Clinical de-cision support systems· Low cost, high quality service provisions· Lean Management Structures fa-voring Controlled Outsourcing· Increased efficiency in bio-medical supplies, support and maintenance· Ability for a rapid scale up and hence growth and profitabilityCurrent trendsThere are quite some organisations globally engaged in driving stan-dardisation across the Healthcare industry. ISO Technical Commit-tee (TC 215) is engaged in driving standardisation in the healthcare space. Eucomed is driving simi-lar initiative among its European and other international members. TC 215 has 24 participating and 21 Observing countries including 9 working groups. CEN (ComiteEu-ropeen de Normalisation) TC251 is working on Information exchange standards in Health Informatics with 29 member countries. HL7 in the US is working on protocol standardisation for Information exchange between devices. Then we have the DICOM standards com-mittee engaged on standardisation of Image formats. Japan Associ-ation of Healthcare Information systems is also committed to glob-al standardisation efforts. CON-TINUA is another organisation driving standardisation among small devices.The member organisations who drive the Standardisation efforts would comprise representatives from Healthcare regulators, Inter-national standardisation bodies, Global Medical technology indus-try, Medical professional groups, Notified certification bodies and major Pharmacopoeia. As very well summarised by NEC Technical Journal Vol 3, issues of major con-cern in the field of medical care re-lates to its quality and safety as-pects. Although Standardisation alone is not sufficient for securing safety and quality, there is no doubt that it is a critical factor in their im-plementation. Collaboration with people in the clinical field as well as among industry, government and academia are more important than ever for promoting the dis-semination of standardisation. IN HEALTHCARE, STANDARDS PROVIDE A COMMON LANGUAGE AND SET OF EXPECTATIONS THAT ENABLE INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN THESE SYSTEMS AND/OR DEVICESRavi Ramaswamy
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