| |
| Case Study |
| |
Web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool to
Applications (MESA) Database
configure Medical Enterprise and Simulator |
|
|
In April-July 2005, Patni's Product Engineering Services (PES) team designed and developed a web-based GUI
tool to configure the MESA database for enabling web-based updation of patient healthcare records.
The Client
Client is a world leader in
development, manufacture,
sale and technical services
for medical equipments.
The company's range of
products includes
Diagnostic X-ray systems,
Medical X-ray CT systems,
Diagnostic magnetic
resonance imaging systems ,
Diagnostic ultrasound
systems , Radiation therapy
systems , Diagnostic nuclear
medicine systems , Medical
sample testing equipment
and Information systems for
medical equipment.
The Challenge
Healthcare systems follow the IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise)
initiative standards developed by HIMSS (Healthcare Information and
Management Systems Society) and RSNA (Radiological Society of North
America) for communication between HIS (Health Information Systems) /RIS
(Radiology Information Systems) and Acquisition modality (e.g. CT, MRI). The
MESA Database forms a vital part in storing the information about the patient
in the HIS end. The MESA database as such comprises of data pertaining to the
MWM (Modality Worklist management) and MPPS (Modality Performed
Procedure Step) Services which are called for from the Modality workstation by
the relevant tools of HIS.
A user-friendly web-based GUI tool had to be developed to test the exchange
of data between the IHE standard medical data acquisition used by medical
systems and the DICOM (Digital Imaging & Communications in Medicine)
standard used to store patient records in the MESA database. These records
needed to be modified as per the various test cases and hence the tool being
developed had to give easy access to the developers to access and modify the
HIS/RIS database.
The challenge was thus three-fold:
 |
Developing a front-end web-based GUI for easy access to the MESA and
HIS/RIS databases |
|
Developing an interface in the back-end, for communication MESA
database having patient records in DICOM standard and the HIS/RIS and
acquisition modalities following the IHE initiative |
|
Develop a tool for testing the exchange of information between the
HIS/RIS and acquisition modalities and the MESA database. |
The Solution
Patni's product engineering services team studied the MESA database tables and
MESA standards and developed a prototype of the GUI as per the client's
specifications, before proceeding with designing the core functionalities that
would interface with the GUI.
Once the front-end GUI was finalized, the PES team designed and developed a
three-tier system to:
|
Presentation Layer: Providing access to the user to the MESA database with
the GUI screen using HTTP/HTTPS. This layer also performs the function of
tracking exceptions and errors and logging them into the server |
|
Interface layer: Interfacing data from the HIS/RIS and data acquisition
modalities (CAT, MRI etc) with the MESA database |
|
Data Access Layer: Accessing data from the HIS/RIS and data acquisition
modalities and the MESA database to feed into the interface layer to make
it ready for the presentation layer.
|
The PES team designed and developed the three-tier architecture using ASP,
.NET, C# and Visual Studio 2003 development tools, Rational Rose design tool
and IE6, Javascript & HTML for client side interface.
The Technology
|
Microsoft .NET
Framework 1.1 |
|
Microsoft Internet
Information Services
5.0 (IIS 5.0) web server |
|
Microsoft SQL 2000 |
|
MESA (Medical
Enterprise and
Simulator Applications)
Database |
|
Visual Studio 2003 |
|
Rational Rose |
|
Ie6, Javascript, HTML |
| |
 |
The Benefits
|
Simplicity of access to patient records for testing and
updation through the HTTP/HTTPS based GUI interface |
|
Ease of testing and modifying the database fields |
|
Direct interface of patient records with the HIS/RIS and
data acquisition modalities.. |
|
