University of Oldenburg joins the openEHR network
To develop and disseminate open standards and models for interoperable electronic health data, with a view to utilising them for future studies and improving patient care – this is the aim of the non-profit organisation openEHR (EHR = Electronic Health Records), of which the University of Oldenburg has recently become an institutional member. The contact person is Prof. Dr Antje Wulff. She heads the ‘Big Data in Medicine’ section within the Department of Health Services Research.
Pascal Biermann, a member of staff in Wulff’s section, has been a member of the international Software Programme Board since spring and is actively involved in shaping the standard’s software specifications. Wulff is also a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all.connects and, together with her team, is working on establishing an “Open Data Space for Audiology” for the cluster.
As Dr Lena Schell-Majoor, a postdoctoral researcher in the Cluster of Excellence, reports, hearing research currently lacks large datasets that cover as broad a spectrum of hearing impairments as possible. This is in part because researchers often collect audiological data as part of studies in which only a small, non-representative section of the population takes part. “Larger, more diverse datasets will be essential in future to drive the development of data-driven solutions for diagnosis and treatment,” explains Schell-Majoor. The basis for future studies should therefore be interoperable and globally available data from various studies and sources.
In order to make such data available and exchange it across institutions, clear and common semantic standards are required first. These are jointly developed and refined by the members of the openEHR network. “Technical and subject-matter feedback from the community is essential for the quality of such models and their acceptance,” says Schell-Majoor.
This was also crucial for the first openEHR archetype developed by members of Hearing4all.connects, entitled “Categorical Loudness Scaling”. This is the first standardised data model for an audiological test within the openEHR framework and forms the basis for improved documentation, interoperability and data reuse. openEHR archetypes such as this one describe clinical concepts in a structured form and, wherever possible, encompass all relevant data and metadata that may be required for research and clinical application.
By becoming an institutional member of the openEHR network, the university is promoting networking and knowledge exchange within the openEHR community. In doing so, the university will strengthen the development and international publication of openEHR models, such as those developed, not least, by the researchers at Hearing4all.connects. At the same time, the university benefits from access to the knowledge and experience within the network, both in terms of its own research and, looking ahead, in terms of delivering even better clinical care at the University Medicine Oldenburg.
