Health informatics is a rapidly growing field that deals with the collection, storage, and analysis of health-related data. One of the key technologies driving this field forward is Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), a standard for exchanging health information between different systems. In this article, we'll look closely at FHIR and what it means for health informatics.
What is FHIR?
FHIR is a standard for exchanging health information between different systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs), laboratory systems, radiology systems, and other healthcare applications. It was developed by the Health Level Seven International (HL7) organisation, which is a not-for-profit group that promotes the development and implementation of standards for health informatics.
FHIR is based on a simple principle: it provides a standardised way for different systems to communicate with each other, allowing healthcare providers to access and share patient data more easily. This can improve the quality and safety of care, as well as reduce costs by avoiding duplication of efforts and reducing manual data entry.
How does FHIR work?
FHIR uses a simple RESTful (Representational State Transfer) architecture, which means that it is based on a set of rules that define how different systems should communicate with each other. These rules are defined in a series of resources, which are the building blocks of FHIR. Each resource represents a specific type of health information, such as a patient's demographic data or medical history.