Course on openEHR modular electronic health and social care record

In this course you will learn about the openEHR data model and how it can be used as a basis for electronic health and social care records. It will familiarize you with an alternative step-by-step approach to building electronic health and social care records utilizing functional modules from several vendors. 

The course will answer questions such as: What do we mean by openEHR based electronic health and social care record and what can we achieve by utilizing it? What kind of benefits can be gained by hospitals, social care and health care delivery entities? How does the openEHR based approach differ from the traditional concept for building electronic health and social care records? How can openEHR facilitate building of cross-organizational care pathways? How do we involve the clinician or the social care professional in a central role in developing data concepts and applications? And what kind of references can be found around the globe?

Active communication with the other participants as well as with the facilitator is encouraged while you study the course. Chatting, commenting, and asking questions will help you digest and analyze the topics from several viewpoints. You will receive a course completion certificate at the end of the course.

Course content

System integration will change remarkably from the traditional approach when we move into openEHR based implementations. In this course we will discuss data and process level integration enabled by openEHR and used in parallel with message-based integration.

Part 1: Introduction

The content of the course and the facilitator are introduced in this part. You will also find general instructions regarding navigation and active participation in the Claned eLearning environment. More instructions can be found in each section, e.g. related to various tasks to be completed. 

Part 2: Ever-changing social & health care environment

The social and health care environment is in constant change and so are the system requirements. Traditional approaches cannot cope with the ever changing requirements; entirely new innovative models are required. This part deals with new type of needs and the disruption taking place in the social and health care IT market.

Part 3: The system architecture for meeting new requirements

This part explores the system architecture needed to cope with the ever changing customer needs. The system architecture is based on the concept of an open ecosystem where data have been separated from applications and applications can be acquired from multiple vendors.

Part 4: What is an open platform?

This part concentrates on the details of an open platform which is a key part of the new post modern system architecture. What does an open platform mean, what are it’s distinct characteristics and what kind of services does it provide?

Part 5: What is openEHR?

This part covers the basics of openEHR. How does an openEHR data model look like? How do we search data based on structured data elements? What is an archetype and what is a template? What is CKM and how does it look like?

Part 6: How will system integration change?

System integration will change remarkably from the traditional approach when we move into openEHR based implementations. In this section we will discuss data and process level integration enabled by openEHR and used in parallel with message-based integration.

Part 7: HL7 FHIR & openEHR complementing each other

This part continues with the discussion about system integration but now with the focus on the comparison of HL7 FHIR and openEHR. They are complimentary, not competing, and therefore it is important to know their applicability.

Part 8: What are the success factors of openEHR?

What makes the openEHR based approach attractive? Why is it superior? This section looks at openEHR from the application vendor’s perspective.

Part 9: What does modular openEHR based electronic health & social care record mean?

In this part we will learn about the building blocks of an openEHR based electronic health and social care record and compare it with the traditional monolith. Some questions creating concern among hospital districts are common user experience (UX), roadmap from old to new, and so on. These concerns are further discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Part 10: How can we create a common user experience (UX) in a modular electronic health and social care record?

One of the most common concerns while building an openEHR based electronic health and social care record, due to multi-vendor approach, is assuring a common UX for users. A few models for this will be presented in this section.

Part 11: Agile development in openEHR implementations

Agile development is an essential part of openEHR implementations – both while developing applications, but also in managing IT environments. An open ecosystem with openEHR data model supports innovative ideas as well as developing and piloting applications in an iterative manner. Various hackathons are popular meeting places for software developers and platform providers.

Part 12: From monoliths to modules

In this part we concentrate on changing the IT system architecture from a monolith to a more modular direction. A generic roadmap that has proven to be successful in many international implementations is presented. How can roadmaps differ according to different needs of hospital districts? The procurement part (Part 22) will discuss the prerequisites of a successful project further from a slightly different viewpoint.

Part 13: How can openEHR help create cross-organizational care pathways?

The latest development in openEHR specifications covers cross-organizational care pathways. This section introduces modelling and execution of care pathways as well as the integration of pathways to resource management.

Part 14: Clinician-centered development of data models and applications

openEHR is clinician-centered building around their needs. In this part modular openEHR based electronic records are discussed from the clinician’s perspective.

Part 15: How can hospital districts benefit from the new approach?

In this section you can find the benefits for various stakeholders in hospitals districts: clinical professionals, hospital management and IT departments.

Part 16: openEHR market development

This section describes the openEHR market development in general as well as the evolution of the market from data exchange into modular electronic health records. A model to evaluate the maturity of the market regarding implementation of openEHR based solutions is also discussed.

Part 17: Various openEHR projects in different markets

This section covers examples of openEHR projects in various markets. Projects are segmented into openEHR based data exchange projects and the development of modular openEHR based electronic health records.

Part 18: Nordic openEHR market

The Nordic countries are active regarding openEHR. This section focuses on the Nordic market, status of transition to openEHR as well as the trends in the Nordics.

Part 19: openEHR market in the UK

openEHR has its origin in Australia and the UK. The UK is currently a rapidly developing openEHR market. The specific features and projects in the UK are discussed in this section.

Part 20: openEHR market in Australia

In this section we discuss the market situation in Australia, the other origin of openEHR.

Part 21: Cross-border openEHR projects

In Europe we can find openEHR implementations that go across country borders. In this section we look at two of them.

Part 22: Procurement related to open ecosystems

Traditional procurement processes do not necessarily fit the open ecosystems. This section discusses things to consider in procurement and elements to remember while managing the ecosystem.

Part 23: Takeaways from the training

This concludes the most important takeaways from the training. You get a course completion certificate once all modules are completed.