Practical approaches to designing standards: the case of a district hospital information system in Northern India

Abstract

This paper explores the issue of designing standards within the setting of a district hospital system in the context of a Northern State in India. The aim is to develop a practical approach to the design and implementation of standards during the course of the evolution of a hospital management information system (HospMIS) first in one hospital, and later to be scaled to a total of 20 such hospitals in the state. A three level framework of health information standards comprising of information needs, software and interoperability as been evolved through the HISP (Health Information Systems Programme) initiative is drawn upon to approach this issue of standards. While this framework has indeed been a very useful lens to understand standards, we have also contributed to its extension by additionally focusing on issues relating to the process of development, implementation and scaling of standards.

Published in: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Kathmandu, Nepal, May 2011