dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

In addition to SDMX, there is the Dataset Publishing Language (DSPL):

http://code.google.com/apis/publicdata/

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 10:22 AM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Scott
>
> On 17 February 2011 07:53, Merritt, Scott A. <MerrittS@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Thanks for this Crizelle. In particular, the vision in Botswana is to have
>> DHIS serve as the repository and visualization tool of record for health
>> data for the foreseeable future. But, as electronic tools roll out, it would
>> be nice to eliminate the need for data re-entry from these systems, while
>> allowing for manual entry from the programs and locations that are not yet
>> electronic. At the same point, as the tools change, we would prefer to have
>> a single common interface via Mirth to DHIS as opposed to creating
>> interfaces for iHRIS, all of our EMR tools, DisaLab, ETR.net, …. Is anything
>> similar happening elsewhere? If not, can someone help explain why not?
>
> My understanding is that Mirth is essentially an HL7 switch which
> transports and transforms electronic patient record data.  I guess
> this is why all your EMR tools can talk to it and so they should.  But
> DHIS (and for that matter iHRIS) is not an EMR tool.  We don't deal
> with individual patient data.  And it would probably be a bad idea in
> terms of application scope if we did.
>
> There will be a point in all of your EMR tools where they generate
> summary reports.  How many malaria cases this month etc.  It is this
> summary data which is the province of dhis.  And HL7 is not the format
> for representing that summary data.  In the absence of an HL7
> equivalent for summary data we have been  strongly advocating that
> systems use SDMX-HD for this to avoid the proliferation of interfaces
> you refer to.
>
> As I suggested (guessing really) it is probably possible to do the
> aggregation at the HL7 level with some sort of HL7 aggregation filter,
> but I doubt if this is the easiest way to do it.  When I think of the
> logic engine and reporting framweork in a tool like OpenMRS for
> example, I can imagine it would take some heavy lifting to get that
> functionality into Mirth.  All of the EMR systems should have the
> ability to produce summary reports and the challenge is to get them
> all to use a comon standard reporting format (ie SDMX).  I think by
> analogy you might think of dhis as your SDMX-HD hub in the same way as
> mirth is your HL7 hub.
>
> Regards
> Bob
>
>>
>>
>>
>> Scott
>>
>> From: Crizelle Nel [mailto:crizellenel@xxxxxxxxx]
>> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 7:07 AM
>> To: Knut Staring; Bob Jolliffe; Johan Ivar Sæbø
>> Cc: Merritt, Scott A.; Kabelo Bitsang; Phumzile Khumalo; Chris Seebregts;
>> dhis2-devs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [Dhis2-devs] HL7 in Botswana
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your responses Bob, Knut and Johan.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have not yet had the opportunity to properly discuss this development with
>> anyone (I just had a quick telephone call with Scott Merrit from BUTUSA
>> earlier in the week).
>>
>>
>>
>> What I can tell you though is that the Tecnhical Work Group in Botswana
>> (which comprises of key staff from MoH, Local Government, I-Tech, BUTUSA and
>> more) is absolutely committed to the DHIS. The long-term plan in Botswana is
>> to interface all applicable systems (i.e. IPMS, ETR.Net, iHRIS etc.) with
>> the DHIS so that the DHIS acts as an integrator.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a meeting with Scott this afternoon and just wanted to gather as much
>> information as possible beforehand.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'll be sure to obtain answers to the questions you posed and to get back to
>> you with Scott's responses.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Crizelle
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 11:49 PM, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> This was actually the approach taken by a team in South Africa in 2008
>> and early 2009 to link OpenMRS and DHIS2, though I don't think it was
>> put in production.
>>
>> Knut
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:30 PM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>> HL7 is for patient data so we shouldn't need to interface directly
>>> with it.  Possibly they are considering building an aggregation filter
>>> in Mirth to produce something like SDMX from the patient data.   Don't
>>> know.  I am not there to negotiate.
>>>
>>> But you need to negotiate hard (on your side of the fence) to ensure
>>> that what comes out of this magic box will be suitable for dhis2
>>> consumption.  That is the way with these kind of switches .. in the
>>> end they are proxies for human negotiation :-)  Much like telephone
>>> switches between phone operators for that matter.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Bob
>>>
>>> On 16 February 2011 21:22, Crizelle Nel <crizellenel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>
>>>> In Botswana they are discussing developing a software tool (MIRTH) to act
>>>> as
>>>> a switchboard between all health systems. For example if you want to
>>>> export
>>>> data from their patient-based system (IPMS) to the DHIS 2 for example,
>>>> you
>>>> would use the MIRTH interface to do it. It essentially acts as a
>>>> post-office, simply passing the data between different systems.
>>>>
>>>> They would like to use HL7 for MIRTH.
>>>>
>>>> Have any of you done something similar in other countries?
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone used HL7 before?
>>>> --
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Crizelle Nel
>>>> Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) Software Development Team
>>>>
>>>> Email:  crizellenel@xxxxxxxxx
>>>> Cell:     084 580 3342
>>>> Fax:     0866 509 502
>>>> Web:    http://www.hisp.org/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cheers,
>> Knut Staring
>>
>>
>



-- 
Cheers,
Knut Staring