Professionals working in the healthcare sector record your health data in their digital information systems, many of which exist.
Exchanging health information between e.g. your hospital and your General Practitioner is vital to ensure continuity of care.
As is the exchange of health data with clinical laboratories, pharmacies, disease registries, mobile devices, biosensors, health apps etc.
That is where interoperability standards come in.
One and the same medication can be sold in different countries under different brand names. Imagine you are abroad and need urgent care following an accident. The foreign medical team will need to check the medication you’re on to avoid giving you a conflicting treatment. But the name of the drug you are taking, may be unfamiliar to them. An international standard that allows the identification of each drug, regardless of brand name, is crucial to deliver safe care.
UNICOM is an EU-funded R&D project up-scaling the global unique identification of medicines using the IDMP standard (Identification of Medicinal Products) to simplify the exchange of detailed, interoperable medicine information all over the world.
Let’s take it one step further: perhaps the accident left you unconscious and none of your travel companions are aware of the medication you take. But they do remember that you are allergic to some components. Time is of an essence! If the emergency doctor has access to your essential health data, he or she can quickly make the right life-saving decisions and avoid damaging consequences.
The International Patient Summary (IPS) is a standardised set of basic medical data that includes the most important clinical facts required for supporting unplanned, cross border care.