Committee: Orders/Observations

Chair:

Author: Hans Buitendijk

Committee HL7 Newsletter Highlights:

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The Orders & Observation met to discuss V2.x and V3.0 material.

On Monday, approximately 30 V2.x proposals were reviewed preparation for

V2.x. Many were finalized at the meeting while others will be completed

in preparation of the Minneapolis meeting. A task group had convened

since the St. Louis meeting on a regular basis to prepare the proposals.

As a result the review process was very efficient and effective. We will

continue this approach with a goal of finalizing V2.x content for a next

ballot round between the May and September meeting. Meeting time was also

dedicated to a review of the Blood Bank SIG efforts. This discussion

resulted in a number of suggestions that will help Blood Bank SIG to

complete an initial V2.x proposal by next meeting. Ken McCaslin will be

assisting the SIG in these efforts.

On Tuesday, the focus shifted to V3.0 after the co-chair election during

which Clem McDonald and Hans Buitendijk were re-elected for another two

year term. Subsequently we discussed the scope statements for V3.0 and

agreed to four phases to achieve equivalency with the types of messages

currently covered in V2. The initial focus will be on Laboratory and

Pharmacy, after which we will address Supply, Dietary, Product Experience,

Clinical Trials, and integration of Imaging, Micro, Blood Bank, and other

areas to the extend then necessary.

The joint session with the Blood Bank SIG focused on the relationship and

use of the RIM within the blood bank domain. The discussion enabled the

Blood Bank SIG to identify the intended classes and message approach.

The joint session with MDM, CDA, and II focused on a V2.x MDM vs ORU

discussion and a number of RIM harmonization questions around documents.

The remainder of the day was dedicated completing interaction and state

transition diagrams for Laboratory.

On Wednesday, the focus was on V3.0 Laboratory. We continued completion

of the interaction diagram for Lab and completed a review of the current

orders and observation R-MIMs available for Laboratory. The R-MIM for

observations does allow for micro as well. A joint session with LAPOCT

took place in the afternoon to specifically focus on various lab

automation harmonization issues and continue the mapping of lab automation

and point of care device needs into the RIM. LAPOCT will continue to

complete the interaction diagram in the area of lab-analyzer

communication.

On Thursday, the focus was on V3.0 Pharmacy. During a joint session with

Vocabulary, we reviewed progress made to date in the areas of clinical

drug vocabulary, information model, and use cases. Since there is a need

to support a wide variety of specific to general or fuzzy terminology, we

agreed that it will be necessary to support those variations through

general/specific attributes and presence of appropriate standard

vocabulary. A focus group (possibly a SIG) will be formed to specifically

focus on these pharmacy issues.

After the joint session, OO continued review of the pharmacy

prescription/order and administration R-MIMs.

Once the format of the V3.0 publication has been established, OO will

start to populate this with the already available materials and use it as

its focal point for continued discussion.

On Friday, the focus was on V3.0 referral/discharge summary and V2.x

timing quantity. The V2.x timing quantity discussion lead to an agreement

on the appropriate course of action once OO has finalized a V2.x proposal

for replacing the TQ data type with two (or more) TQ segments. The V3.0

referral/discharge summary discussion lead to enhanced understanding for

the use of the RIM in these use cases and also started the refinement of

mood code definitions.