Information Models And Its Application Of Individual Identification In Healthcare Service

Individual identification is at the beginning of healthcare service. It occures any process of healthcare service, such as laboratory tests, treatment, medication, surgery and so on. Because of name change, wrong enter or incorrect listening, wrong bed number which nurse staff made a mistake , unconsciousness of patient and so on, patients can not be identified correctly. It results in medical errors, medical incidents, and even endangers the safety of patients.Due to the reasons for the replacement of work, everyone's lifelong health record information scattered in different systems and regions. In order to dynamically track the personal lifelong health records, it is necessary to identify individuals first. Patient identifiers are often locally distributed and maintained, which is fit for patient records retrieval and management in this region. At the national level, the systems usually have different data models, platforms, and semantics and are lack of uniform standards, it is hard to effectively and accurately connect to the correct individual, and it is also hard to have data sharing among different systems and platforms. In order to achieve personal lifelong health record linkage, each person must be identified accurately in every system. So it is needed to develop unified and unique identifiers, and have common concepts, architecture, data type and semantics.One purpose of this paper is to explore data items of individual identification used in healthcare services; another is to have the data model of individual information and its application. We take the health record forms used in healthcare service as the research material, which derived from the First People's Hospital of Foshan , national material and child care, disease control center and so on. Methods we used in the paper were as follows:(1) Refer to HL7 PID information and related research abroad to develop individual identification data items.(2) Use UML data model tools to develop data model according to HL7 RIM.(3) Refer to "National health data dictionary" to define metadata.(4) Use XML editor to develop XML Schema document, and define XML interchange format.The main findings in the paper were as follows:(1) Developed individual identification data set, included 24 data elements and 85 data items.(2) Formed information model of the individual identification.(3) Developed examples for information model application.(4) Defined exchange format of XML data file With the XML Schema of individual identifiers used in medical service. The paper proposed data items and data standards about individual identification information, which met the need of current healthcare information system, provided the reference for the selection of identification in national record forms, and offered the premise for establishing health record index data base and the minimum data set. The use of information model solved the complex, decentralized framework of information standards, and provided a way for health information sharing in the healthcare service.