Tutorial Scenario |
Let's assume that you have just created your interface that will parse ADT messages and have successfully deployed it at Acme Hospital. However, you have just received a contract to deploy a similar, but slightly different interface at Magic Hospital. This interface must also process ADT messages, but uses a slightly different flavor of HL7.
Review the following sample message:
MSH|^~\&||.|||199908180016||ADT^A04|ADT.1.1698593|P|2.5 PID|1||000395122||LEVERKUHN^ADRIAN^C^^^||19880517180606|M|^^^^^||6 66TH AVE NE^^WEIMAR^DL^98052||(157)983-3296|||S||12354768|87654321 NK1|1|TALLIS^THOMAS^C|GRANDFATHER|12914 SPEM ST^^ALIUM^IN^98052|(157)883-6176 NK1|2|WEBERN^ANTON|SON|12 STRASSE MUSIK^^VIENNA^AUS^11212|(123)456-7890 PV1|1|E|EMG-W^^|1||||||||||ER||||ER||H|||||||||||||||||||OVL||REG|||199908180015 GT1|1||SMITH^JAMES^M||12914 164TH AVE NE^^RICHMOND^ON^98052|(157)883-6176|||||F|535-52-9776||||WEISS JENSON|.^^WELLINGTON^ON^.|(206)340-9577 IN1|1|PRE2||LIFE PRUDENT BUYER|PO BOX 23523^WELLINGTON^ON^98111|||19601||||||||THOMAS^JAMES^M|F|||||||||||||||||||ZKA535529776 |
Now examine the other message your application must process for Magic Hospital:
MSH|^~\&||.|||199908180016||ADT^A04|ADT.1.1698593|P|2.5 PID|1||000395882|THOMAS^KYLE^C||||M|^^^^^^^^|19880517|12914 164TH AVE NE^^RICHMOND^ON^98052||(157)883-6176|||S||12354768|87654321| NK1|1|SMITH^MARY^C|M|12914 164TH AVE NE^^RICHMOND^ON^98052|(157)883-6176 PV1|1|E|EMG-W^^|1||||||||||ER||||ER||H|||||||||||||||||||OVL||REG|||199908180015 GT1|1||SMITH^JAMES^M||12914 164TH AVE NE^^RICHMOND^ON^98052|(157)883-6176|||||F|535-52-9776||||WEISS JENSON|.^^WELLINGTON^ON^.|(206)340-9577 IN1|1|PRE2||LIFE PRUDENT BUYER|PO BOX 23523^WELLINGTON^ON^98111|||19601||||||||THOMAS^JAMES^M|F|||||||||||||||||||ZKA535529776 |
At first glance, you will notice that the segment grammars are slightly different since the second message does not contain a repeating NK1 segment. However, the more important differences are located in the PID segment, namely the Patient Name and Date of Birth fields. These two fields are located in different places for each message.
- Magic Message - Patient Name is located in Field 4 and Date of Birth is located in Field 10.
- Acme Message - Patient Name is located in Field 5 and Date of Birth is located in Field 7.
As an additional requirement, Magic Hospital wants all the leading zeros removed from the Patient Identifier List, which is located in Field 3 of the PID segment.
Both hospitals are receiving ADT messages, but each one uses a different flavor of HL7. Since no two sites are set up to receive two identical ADT messages, this is a common customer problem.
To deal with this problem, you have a few options:
| Number | Option | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create one VMD for each site. | This would increase the maintenance costs since you would have to support two different VMD files. |
| 2 | Add another configuration to your existing VMD file. | Each configuration in your VMD file can have different segment grammars, segment Python scripts, table mappings, etc. This would decrease your maintenance costs, since you would only have to maintain one VMD file. |
This tutorial will explain how to accomplish the second objective.