A standard, knowledge integrated consultation document for pediatric HIV information exchange

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is one of life-threatening diseases over which human currently does not have enough control. Study and research on HIV and its prevention are being carried out by different organizations. However, they are mostly area specific, thereby, failing to provide a nation-wide or region-wide overview of HIV infection. One of the major bottlenecks in having a wider study is the lack of interoperability among systems managing HIV patient information. Besides, such lack of interoperability also hinders forming larger HIV care network where telemedicine could be accomplished more effectively. We have addressed this interoperability issue through HL7 clinical document architecture (CDA), a document-based messaging standard for clinical interaction. This article introduces a document architecture that conforms to HL7 CDA standard and contains all relevant information of a pediatric HIV patient. We extended the existing architecture of CDA consultation note in three dimensions: (1) HIV specific content, (2) HIV specific knowledgebase and (3) HIV specific presentation of content and knowledge. An example CDA consultation note is demonstrated following the proposed extension.