Gendler S M, Friedman B A, Henricks W H
Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0054, USA.
Am J Clin Pathol. 1996 Apr;105(4 Suppl 1):S25-32.
The deployment and maintenance of multiple point-to-point interfaces between a clinical information system, such as a laboratory information system, and other systems within a healthcare enterprise is expensive and time consuming. Moreover, the demand for such interfaces is increasing as hospitals consolidate and clinical laboratories participate in the development of regional laboratory networks and create host-to-host links with laboratory outreach clients. An interface engine, also called a hub, is an evolving technology that could replace multiple point-to-point interfaces from a laboratory information system with a single interface to the hub, preferably HL7 based. The hub then routes and translates laboratory information to other systems within the enterprise. Changes in application systems in an enterprise where a centralized interface engine has been implemented then amount to thorough analysis, an update of the enterprise's data dictionary, purchase of a single new vendor-supported interface, and table-based parameter changes on the hub. Two other features of an interface engine, support for structured query language and information store-and-forward, will facilitate the development of clinical data repositories and provide flexibility when interacting with other host systems. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of an interface engine and lists some problems not solved by the technology. Finally, early developmental experience with an interface engine at the University of Michigan Medical Center and the benefits of the project on system integration efforts are described, not the least of which has been the enthusiastic adoption of the HL7 standard for all future interface projects.
在临床信息系统（如实验室信息系统）与医疗企业内的其他系统之间部署和维护多个点对点接口既昂贵又耗时。此外，随着医院合并以及临床实验室参与区域实验室网络的发展并与实验室外送客户建立主机到主机的链接，对这类接口的需求正在增加。接口引擎，也称为集线器，是一种不断发展的技术，它可以用一个到集线器（最好是基于HL7）的单一接口取代实验室信息系统中的多个点对点接口。然后，集线器将实验室信息路由并转换到企业内的其他系统。在已实施集中式接口引擎的企业中，应用系统的更改相当于进行全面分析、更新企业数据字典、购买一个新的由供应商支持的接口以及在集线器上进行基于表的参数更改。接口引擎的另外两个特性，即对结构化查询语言的支持和信息存储转发，将有助于临床数据存储库的开发，并在与其他主机系统交互时提供灵活性。本文描述了接口引擎的优缺点，并列出了该技术尚未解决的一些问题。最后，介绍了密歇根大学医学中心在接口引擎方面的早期开发经验以及该项目对系统集成工作的益处，其中最重要的是所有未来接口项目都积极采用了HL7标准。
