Letter from the Editor

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to introduce this next issue of the AMIA Standards Standard.

Standards are vital for interoperability: for information to be communicated reliably between different information systems. Efforts over the past 25 years have predominantly focused on what is called technical interoperability: the structure of the information to be exchanged, for example as messages or Web interfaces, including the definition of each information item and the permitted values it may hold.

As we know, clinical information is not a collection of fragments, but a coherent portrayal of the status of the patient at any particular moment, including vital contextual information. In recent years standards have turned attention to how to represent clinical information including its necessary interpretation context.

In this issue, HL7 has provided a detailed update describing its new directions and initiatives, which more strongly emphasize the clinical content domain. A second feature article presents an exciting international initiative, CIMI, exclusively focusing on clinical information modeling.

Technical and semantic interoperability do not in themselves guarantee consistency of clinical information between systems and provider organizations. Consistency truly begins with people, who need to adopt common clinical care standards and to work to best practice and evidence. Education is vital to changing, improving, clinician behavior. In this issue I'm pleased to include an article from MedBiquitous, who have developed a formal and attractive visualization to help healthcare professionals to chart their educational needs and achievements. This will be especially attractive as a portable monitoring tool, since many healthcare professionals (especially in training grades) frequently move between provider organizations.

With thanks to my Editorial Board, this issue also brings news on the latest developments from the major international standards development organizations.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue. Please do feel free to submit comments online or to email me directly. I'd also be very happy to learn of suggestions for future feature topics we should include.

With best wishes,

Dipak Kalra
Editor