A Web-Based Application to Exchange Ophthalmologic Health Records Using Open-Source Databases

Abstract

Electronic Health Record (EHR) refers to an individual patient’s medical record in digital format. Several models of standardization for EHR exchange have been proposed and multiple organizations formed to help evaluate and implement them. In this chapter, we present a web-based application (TeleOftalWeb) to store and exchange EHR and fundus photographs. We apply Health Level 7/Clinical Document Architecture (HL7/CDA) Release One and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards. It has been built on Java Servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) technologies. EHR and fundus photographs are stored in an open-source database, eXist. Its architecture is triple-layered. The application verifies the standards related to privacy and confidentiality. Data transmissions were carried over encrypted Internet connections such as HyperText Transfer Protocol over SSL (HTTPS).