. Mostafa Shanbehzadeh; . Hadi Kazemi-Arpanahi; . Komeil Mazhab-Jafari; . Hamideh Haghiri
Volume 10, Issue 8 , August 2020, , Pages 1-11
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) is a major global health concern. Jointefforts for effective surveillance of COVID‑19 require immediate transmission of reliable ...
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INTRODUCTION: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) is a major global health concern. Jointefforts for effective surveillance of COVID‑19 require immediate transmission of reliable data. In thisregard, a standardized and interoperable reporting framework is essential in a consistent and timelymanner. Thus, this research aimed at to determine data requirements towards interoperability.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross‑sectional and descriptive study, a combination ofliterature study and expert consensus approach was used to design COVID‑19 Minimum DataSet (MDS). A MDS checklist was extracted and validated. The definitive data elements of the MDSwere determined by applying the Delphi technique. Then, the existing messaging and data standardtemplates (Health Level Seven‑Clinical Document Architecture [HL7‑CDA] and SNOMED‑CT) wereused to design the surveillance interoperable framework.RESULTS: The proposed MDS was divided into administrative and clinical sections with three andeight data classes and 29 and 40 data fields, respectively. Then, for each data field, structured datavalues along with SNOMED‑CT codes were defined and structured according HL7‑CDA standard.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The absence of effective and integrated system for COVID‑19surveillance can delay critical public health measures, leading to increased disease prevalence andmortality. The heterogeneity of reporting templates and lack of uniform data sets hamper the optimalinformation exchange among multiple systems. Thus, developing a unified and interoperable reportingframework is more effective to prompt reaction to the COVID‑19 outbreak.