Evaluating a Proof-of-Concept Approach of the German Health Telematics Infrastructure in the Context of Discharge Management.
Although national eHealth strategies have existed now for more than a decade in many countries, they have been implemented with varying success. In Germany, the eHealth strategy so far has resulted in a roll out of electronic health cards for all citizens in the statutory health insurance, but in no clinically meaningful IT-applications. The aim of this study was to test the technical and organisation feasibility, usability, and utility of an eDischarge application embedded into a laboratory Health Telematics Infrastructure (TI). The tests embraced the exchange of eDischarge summaries based on the multiprofessional HL7 eNursing Summary standard between a municipal hospital and a nursing home. All in all, 36 transmissions of electronic discharge documents took place. They demonstrated the technical-organisation feasibility and resulted in moderate usability ratings. A comparison between eDischarge and paper-based summaries hinted at higher ratings of utility and information completeness for eDischarges. Despite problems with handling the electronic health card, the proof-of-concept for the first clinically meaningful IT-application in the German Health TI could be regarded as successful.
Health Informatics Research Group, Hochschule Osnabrück, Osnabrück Germany.
Ursula
U
Hübner
Health Informatics Research Group, Hochschule Osnabrück, Osnabrück Germany.
Georg
G
Schulte
Department of Medical Informatics, University Medical Centre, Göttingen Germany.
Björn
B
Sellemann
Department of Medical Informatics, University Medical Centre, Göttingen Germany.
Matthias
M
Quade
Department of Medical Informatics, University Medical Centre, Göttingen Germany.
Thorsten
T
Rottmann
Diakoniewerk Osnabrück, Osnabrück Germany.
Matthias
M
Fenske
Health Informatics Research Group, Hochschule Osnabrück, Osnabrück Germany.
Nicole
N
Egbert
Fraunhofer FOKUS, Berlin Germany.
Raik
R
Kuhlisch
Department of Medical Informatics, University Medical Centre, Göttingen Germany.
Otto
O
Rienhoff
D002984:Clinical Laboratory Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D000069098:Health Smart Cards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D062527:Meaningful Use / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods; D009737:Nursing Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D063886:Patient Discharge Summaries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review