What is semantic interoperability?
Published on Jun 04, 2017
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What is Semantic Interoperability?
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We want to share patient records...
...among computer systems
Healthcare professionals want to share clinical information, such as patient records, among computer systems. For example among different hospitals using different computer systems.
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Reasons to share information
- Reduce duplication
- Communicate faster, accurately
- Have complete information at the patient's bedside
They want to do this to reduce the duplication of work, communicate faster and more accurately, and so that doctors and nurses have more complete information when caring for patients.
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Share meaning...
...not only data
When computer systems communicate, they must share not only information, but also the MEANING of the information. This enables computers to support clinicians in more intelligent ways.
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Structure...
...conveys meaning
Clinical meaning can be shared if all computer systems STRUCTURE the information the same way.
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Semantic interoperability...
...the ability to share meaning
The ability to share the meaning of clinical information among computer systems in this way is called SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY.
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If healthcare professionals could STRUCTURE clinical information to share it in ways that were SEMANTICALLY INTEROPERABLE, computers could support clinicians in more intelligent ways.
To sum up: If healthcare professionals could STRUCTURE clinical information to share it in ways that were SEMANTICALLY INTEROPERABLE, computers could support clinicians in more intelligent ways.
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Barriers to
Semantic Interoperability
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Lack of structured clinical information
Computers routinely connect to networks and transmit data to other computers. But because different clinical systems structure data differently, most computers in healthcare cannot transmit and receive “meaning” across system boundaries.
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SNOMED CT
to standardize clinical information
Many governments have adopted a “code system” called SNOMED CT to standardize the structure of clinical information.
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SNOMED CT
is part of a terminology ecosystem
SNOMED CT alone is not enough. It is part of an ecosystem in which there are many code systems each serving a distinct purpose.
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Ecosystem needs more artifacts...
- Bound to clinical models
- To support clinical functions and specialties
- Interface terms, in local languages
- Terminology maps
However, the ecosystem is incomplete. It needs additional terminology “artifacts”, or products. It needs code sets matched with clinical information models. It needs code sets to support clinical functions and specialties. It needs terms for computer user interfaces, and for patient reports, in English and local languages. And, it needs terminology maps so the code systems can be used together.
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We will have Semantic Interoperability!
Once the ecosystem in in place...
Once all these terminology products are in place, computer system developers will use them to program computers to transmit and receive structured information, we will be able to share clinical information, and we will have “semantic interoperability”.
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However, the terminology ecosystem is highly complex, and has many moving parts. Currently EMR vendors, healthcare delivery systems, regulators, public health agencies and other stakeholders all work in silos. The many separate parts of the ecosystem are not compatible. The challenge is the bring all the moving parts under a single governance model.
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