David Forslund wrote: > Alvin, > > We had exactly this approach with the OMG HDTF (aka corbamed) in the > late 90's. There are standards there which do exactly this (long > before people thought about doing web services). In addition, this is > now being revisited with the HSSP joint effort of HL7 and the OMG > (hssp.wikispaces.org). Since there are specifications for this type of > integration, I would hope people would pay attention to at least learn > from them in later versions of such standards. The HSSP effort is and > all are invited to participate. The only open source system I'm aware > of that has tried to follow this pattern is the OpenEMed software :-) > What is the "glue" that is used in CHITS? > > If all open source systems "glue" stuff together differently, it isn't > all that much better than proprietary systems although it might be more > "discoverable". Our entire philosophy with OpenEMed is to have well > defined interfaces that define component behavior so that systems can > interoperate easily. This was proven to work very well at HIMSS in > 1998, where a number of commercial products worked out of the box > without any prior configuration.
Alvin and Herman can give far more informed answers on CHITS, but lack of information has never stopped me from venturing an opinion... Looking at the documentation for CHITS, it seems that the "glue" in CHITS is a set of specifications for writing plug-in modules in PHP. Although that gets one only so far, I think it is a very appropriate place to start given the immediate goals of CHITS - it is intended for deployment in community health clinics in developing countries. Note the list of pre-requisites for a CHITS installation in a clinic: "...a telephone connection is desirable but optional..." (that's a telephone for voice communications, not computer communications). That doesn't mean that attention should not be paid to interoperability, but worrying about which standard to use for a network-based service-oriented architecture (SOA) comes a fair way down the list when writing software intended for such settings. Of more relevance is interoperability between applications on the same server (which is likely to be the only server in the clinic, without any persistent network connections to any other server anywhere else - at best an intermittent dial-up connection). Thus starting with a plug-in framework for the software implementation language, as the CHITS people have done, seems a reasonable place to start. Interoperability with other software on the same server can then be achieved in a myriad of ways, such as passing around data extracts in CSV files, or directly reading data from the MySQL database which CHITS uses. Sure, proper APIs and other callable interfaces are desirable, and XML-RPC can be used for this, but the reality is that the interfaces are likely to be ad hoc and app-to-app within the confines of a single server. Not perfect or ideal, but surprisingly effective and easy to do. The effort of quickly creating an app-to-app ad hoc interface using XML-RPC within the confines of a single server is often a lot less than trying to read and comply with far more complex interface specifications and standards. None of that is to say that interoperability standards are not important, but when you only have a single server working in isolation in a single clinic, or at best having a dial-up modem link to the Internet now-and-then (eg when it is not raining, when moisture causes so much noise in the lines due to "battery" effetcts in the telephone terminal connections that a modem connections are impossible...), then it is highly localised interoperability that really counts. Tim C > alvinbmarcelo wrote: > > Thanks Nandalal. > > > > I was wondering: whatever happened to the old discussions about making > > interchangeable health software objects (rather than large bulky > > applications). That was at a time when XML was just revving up and web > > services was in its infancy. Tom Beale had a lot to share about GEHR, > > artifacts and the like. I thought that was interesting. To some > > extent, we implemented the same concept in CHITS but we would hardly > > call it standard. (It takes a global community to create a standard?) > > > > Does OSHCA have a framework of some sort for this kind of health > > software object interchange? That's where gap is most felt in the > > industry and where openness would be of most value. > > > > I admire MirrorMed's 'gluing' stuff together. That was the kind of > > cooperation I had expected from OSHCA 'products' before. And that's > > where FOSS is strong and gains an edge over proprietary products. > > > > > > --- In openhealth@yahoogroups.com, Nandalal Gunaratne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > alvinbmarcelo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > This looks like a very good system. Congratulations! > > > > > > I will try this and introduce it to my colleagues in community > > health. Maybe some of them are already aware of it. > > > > > > Nandalal > > > Hello all. This is Alvin Marcelo (formerly of NLM) re-subscribing. > > > > > > Happy to be back and to see that everyone is well. > > > > > > I return because now we have source code to share :) > > > > > > Our system is called Community Health Information Tracking System > > > (www.chits.info) and it runs on LAMP. > > > > > > It was designed to be modular so you can add on modules as you see > > > fit. This way the system 'grows' with you. Although the primary > > > targets are village health centers in developing countries, the same > > > modules can be used for practice management anywhere around the world. > > > > > > Developers and testers are welcome. > > > > > > System architect is Dr. Herman Tolentino (who is now a public health > > > informatics fellow in CDC). > > > > > > alvin > > > > > > PS. CHITS shirts are also on sale in Stockholm if you are interested :) > > > > > > Alvin B. Marcelo, MD > > > Director-OIC > > > National Telehealth Center, University of the Philippines Manila > > > 547 Pedro Gil Street > > > Ermita, Manila > > > Philippines 1000 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > > YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS > > > > > > > > > Visit your group "openhealth" on the web. > > > > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of > > Service. > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > Tired of spam? Yahoo! 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