NIHI - McMaster CE Microcredential Course

 

Instructor
Laurie Lafleur, MBA, CIIP: Healthcare IT Consultant; Professor, Health Information Science; NIHI, Instructor

This course introduces students to the HL7 messaging standard for healthcare interoperability. Through a combination of live instruction and hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to create, interpret, and leverage healthcare’s most widely adopted standard to facilitate information exchange between a wide variety of clinical applications.

No prior knowledge of HL7 is required. A basic knowledge of messaging-based communications using TCP/IP is an asset, but not required.

Software Needed For Course:

This course uses software tools to simulate HL7 messaging and facilitate hands-on learning. Students are requested to download and install the following applications prior to course start. If you require assistance downloading or installing this software please contact us.

• SmartHL7 Sender and SmartHL7 Receiver. Both can be downloaded from:
  • https://smarthl7.blogspot.com/p/download.html
     
• Mirth Connect 4.1.1 (64-bit):
  • https://www.nextgen.com/products-and-services/mirth-connect-downloads

Topics covered:

• Session 1 – Interoperability challenges and models 
• Session 2 – The history and role of HL7 in healthcare interoperability
• Session 3 – Understanding HL7 Triggers and Events
• Session 4 – Interpreting the HL7 Message Structure and Format
• Session 5 – Initiating Transactions within an HL7 Environment
• Session 6 – Simplifying HL7 Interface Management with Integration Engines
• Session 7 – Troubleshooting HL7 Interfaces
• Session 8 – Defining IHE interoperable workflows

Learning Objectives

• Understand how to navigate the HL7 Standard
• Create, interpret, and validate HL7 messages according to the Standard
• Build point-to-point interfaces and interpret acknowledgement (ACK) responses
• Simulate a typical multi-system HL7 environment using an integration engine participants with the knowledge and tools required to develop and execute strategies for adoption and integration of connected technologies in their own healthcare organizations.
• Troubleshoot common HL7 interface problems
• Construct HL7 workflows according to defined IHE standards

Expected Outcomes

On completion of this course you will have a comprehensive understanding of:

• The role of HL7 in facilitating interoperability in a healthcare IT ecosystem
• How to interpret and create well-formed HL7 messages
• How to build and troubleshoot HL7 interfaces
• The role of IHE in defining standardized healthcare workflows and integrations

Intended Audience

• CTOs or CIOs working for start-up or scale-up healthcare IT or MedTech organizations, seeking to introduce standards-based interoperability into their product portfolio
• Software engineers, integration engineers, data specialists, or support personnel seeking to learn about the HL7 Standard
• Biomedical or IT personnel working with integrated clinical applications who want to know more about the HL7 Standard

Competencies Achieved

• Interpretation of technical and clinical workflow standards
• Application of the HL7 messaging protocol
• Basic TCP/IP messaging for point-to-point interfaces

Upon completion you will be awarded a NIHI - McMaster CE microcredential in HL7 Fundamentals.  A microcredential is issued in a digital format, provides details of acquired competencies and is shareable and transportable.