IHE & HL7 Enabled Device Integration Framework Using SOA

Abstract

Medical Labs uses different devices and chemistry analyzers for performing tests on blood and urine. All these devices need specific vendor based interfaces to communicate to computer. These interfaces implement vendor specific protocol comes with device or analyzer specification. The main problem to client is to implement all the interfaces for each heterogeneous device or analyzer. So there is lack of integration and it increase the development cost. To solve the problem there is need of common interface that act as middleware to remove heterogeneity. Another problem is that devices are not available globally. There must be a mechanism to make devices globally. IHE is imitative that provide framework for information exchanges among healthcare systems as well as healthcare devices. Moreover to make exchange of device information in more interoperable way, HL7 is used. In order to provide interoperability in Patient Care Devices, IHE Device Enterprise Communication (DEC) is used.DEC communicated device data to enterprise applications such as EMRs, CDRs etc. A promising approach to overcome interoperability issues is the service oriented integration, also known as SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). The basic idea is the encapsulation of devices as service, similar to enterprise services in Service Oriented Architecture. The main advantage of service oriented approach is that manufacturer-specific device interface does not have to be known by the service consumer and by the programmer respectively, as it is encapsulated by a standardized service interface. In this model, responsibility for encapsulating services can be appropriately shifted to the suppliers who know them, one side deals with their device specific connections and protocol and the other side deals with network interfaces needed to pump the data over defined SOA internet protocol.