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utnursejdm2014, accurate communication is indeed vital when it comes to patient care. Before the widespread use of EHRs, communication among caregivers was handwritten. There were handwritten nurse's notes, and handwritten physician's orders and prescriptions. This way of communicating vitally important information left room for the possibility of making fatal errors in interpretation and implementation. Now, with the advent of the EHR many of those interpretation errors have been eliminated. Requiring standards when documenting patient information helps improve interoperability, and thereby improves quality and accuracy of patient care.

Laurin, I agree that quick access to health data has become so important, especially with globalization and people traveling all over the world. This is what makes the need for EHR interoperability so crucial, and why President Bush established a National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. According to Sewell & Thede (2013), the 2008-2012 strategic plan was established to help achieve a nationwide infrastructure that will allow exchange of patient information among providers regardless of their location. In other words a neurologist in California should be able to consult with a cardiologist in Tennessee by pulling up the patient's EHR directly instead of waiting for information to be sent piecemeal to him. Without standards for data formatting, this type of interoperability is not possible. UTG1-SW Sewell, J., & Thede, L.Q. (2013) Informatics and nursing: Opportunities and challenges.(4th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.

The ability of different systems and devices to exchange and interpret data is known as interoperability (HIMSS, 2014). In the healthcare setting the ultimate goal of interoperability is for clinicians, labs, hospitals, pharmacies, and patients to share data related to the patient regardless of application or application vendor (HIMSS, 2014). There are several different types of healthcare information technology interoperability, but the focus of this discussion will be on structural interoperability. Structural interoperability pertains to how the data is formatted. In order for data to be shared among all the different healthcare providers, it must be able to move from one system to another so that its purpose and meaning is preserved and unaltered (HIMSS, 2014). In simple terms the concept of standards driving interoperability is exemplified by what took place when videotape technology first got its start. There were two different types of recording formats (standards). Some video recorder manufacturers used the Beta Max format, and some used the VHS format. The VHS format eventually became the most popular, and movie distributors knew it was in their best interest to use the VHS format when recording their movies. Even though there were numerous manufacturers, as long as the machine played the VHS format, the VHS tape would work in it. In much this same way, structural interoperability of healthcare information can be accomplished once a standard (format) is agreed upon. If a hospital is running one kind of system, and the pharmacy is running another kind of system, and a physician is running yet another kind of system, the exchange of data won't take place unless the data is formatted using the same standard. References Healthcare and Information Managements Systems Society. 2014. What is interoperability?Retrieved April 17, 2014 from https://www.himss.org/library/interoperability-standards/what-is Posted by UTGE1-SW