Revista de Saúde e Informática Médica

Interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for Ecuador

Abstract

Silva R*,Medina JA,Dáher JE,Alvarado RM,Recalde T,Noboa C,Martillo I,Burgos F,Vargas Y,Falconí S,Ramírez AM,Chan GJ,Alvarez P

Since September 2013 the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) in Ecuador has integrated a computerized solution for Integral Health Management called Sisalud. By 2014, the MSP and the National Institute for Standardization (INEN) adopted the ISO 13606 standard. In 2014 the Medical Informatics Research Program (PROMEINFO) was implemented at Universidad de Guayaquil. This article is the result of four years of research and development led by PROMEINFO at Universidad de Guayaquil in Ecuador.

Objectives: Several attempts have been made to develop a Standardized Ecuadorian Electronic Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation Health Record (EHR), to meet the Ministry of Health standard. These prior attempts failed mainly due to interoperability issues. This document presents a proposal for the development of compatible archetypes to interoperate EHR in Ecuador.

Methods: The project is based on the conventional engineering cycle for software development.

Results: PROMEINFO has developed a proposal for the new implementation of the Sisalud System, using a semantic interoperable system that complies with all of the Ecuadorian standards. The proposal operates through the use of archetypes based on ISO 13606 and SNOMED CT terminology for semantic interoperability.

Conclusion: It is expected that the present article will contribute to promote the interoperability of the medical records implemented in Ecuador, which will result in a timely and comprehensive attention of the patients and to improve their quality of health care.