Development of a clinical data harmonization system to improve healthcare services

Abstract

A clinical data harmonization system between different healthcare providers, was developed, to ensure that relevant information about a patient's medical history, diagnoses, treatments, and medication is available to all involved healthcare partners before any service delivery. The author put an emphasis on this system due to the prevalent use of in-house patient record systems by local healthcare providers. These systems hinder healthcare practitioners' ability to access information promptly, which is crucial for timely and informed decision-making. The author’s objective is to develop a clinical data harmonization system that improves healthcare services delivery by basing to the patients’ history before any therapeutic service. The goal is to hasten the diagnosis process though quick decision making and to reduce healthcare costs through circumventing the cost and time wastage through duplicated tests and appointment entreaties. The system needs assessment was conducted on 42 respondents having served at different level of healthcare facility. Among the respondents, 38.1% were served through an inhouse data sharing system, 61.9% were served through paper works and compact disc in the same healthcare facility, while no one (0%) was served through a harmonized system between two or more healthcare facility. The results were achieved through reviewing literature to collect secondary data, surveys to collect primary data and engineering method to design, develop and test the prototype. The developed system enables sharing and viewing patient’s medical record both within and outside the healthcare facility by providing a user identification (Names and passcode) which is generated at the first time he/ she is requesting the medical service.