Servidor de terminologias clínicas baseado em HL7 FHIR como ferramenta de interoperabilidade semântica

Abstract

The sharing of data in the health sector is crucial in enabling digital transformation. However, it remains one of the biggest challenges faced today globally, being magnified by both the diversified and the large volume of information generated by technological systems. One of the main solutions to ensure data interoperability is the use of health patterns that standardize the definition of relevant clinical concepts between different institutions. Furthermore, the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) emerges, this is a standard of communication and modelling of health data and normative terminologies, such as the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) or the Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC), which facilitate the sharing of information between different systems. To ensure the mapping and management of different terminologies (standards or locals), the use of a terminology server is still crucial. Thus, the main goal of this report, developed over an internship at Glintt, is to design a proposal of a clinical terminology server based on HL7 FHIR as a semantic interoperability tool, in order to enable the mapping of different customer terminologies and, therefore, improve the health care delivery. In total, three iterative cycles of the Action Research methodology were performed. First, the functional and non-functional requirements of the server were identified, and models representative of the terminology administrator-server interaction were also generated. Subsequently, mockups were built and the entire visual interface of the server was conceptualized. In a third and final phase, a proof of concept was implemented based on the defined specification. Hence, the objectives initially proposed were successfully achieved, however there is still a need to develop more iterations until the solution effectively promotes semantic interoperability in health information systems and begins to introduce significant improvements in this sector.

Date of Award	4 Nov 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Manuel Serra de Barros Guerra (Supervisor)