Bridging the gap: a virtual health record for integrated home care

INTRODUCTION: The coexistence of different information systems that are unable to communicate is a persistent problem in healthcare and in integrated home care in particular. THEORY AND METHODS: Physically federated integration is used for design of the underlying technical architecture to implement a mobile virtual health record for integrated home care. A user centered system development approach is followed during design and development of the system. RESULTS: A technical platform based on a service-oriented approach where database functionality and services are separated has been developed. This guarantees flexibility with regard to changed functional demands and allows third party systems to interact with the platform in a standardized way. A physically federated integration enables point-of-care documentation, integrated presentation of information from different feeder systems, and offline access to data on handheld devices. Feeder systems deliver information in XML-files that are mapped against an ideal XML schema, published as an interface for integration with the information broker, and inserted into the mediator database. CONCLUSIONS: A seamless flow of information between both different care professionals involved in integrated home care and patients and relatives is provided through mobile information access and interaction with different feeder systems using the virtual health record.