Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is an open interoperability standard that allows external software to quickly search for and access clinical information from the electronic medical record (EMR) in a method that is developer-friendly, using current internet technology standards. In this article, we highlight the new FHIR standard and illustrate how FHIR can be used to offer the field of radiology a more clinically integrated and patient-centered system, opening the EMR to external radiology software in ways unfeasible with traditional standards. We explain how to construct FHIR queries relevant to medical imaging using the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) Hackathon application programming interface (API), provide sample queries for use, and suggest solutions to offer a patient-centered, rather than an image-centered, workflow that remains clinically relevant.
Rationale and Objectives
The coronavirus pandemic upended in-person radiology education and led to a transition to virtual platforms. We needed a new method to monitor lecture attendance, previously relying on a physical badge system. Our goal was to develop and implement a virtual conference attendance system that is user-friendly, automated, useable in any virtual conference environment, and accurate.
Materials and Methods
We developed a web-based platform to serve as a virtual conference attendance tracking and evaluation platform. Daily, the application synchronizes with our lecture calendar to identify scheduled conferences and generates a unique attendance link for each event. The link is automatically posted in the conference chat and attendees must be logged in by the time it is posted to click the link, prompting single sign-on authentication. We integrated the system with resident schedules to excuse residents when appropriate. Real-time attendance reports are accessible in a user-friendly dashboard with a 5-star lecture review and comment system. We surveyed residents on satisfaction with the application after 1-year of use.
Results
Over the 2020–2021 academic year, we registered 376 conferences with 5,040 virtual swipes from 65 users. Once set up, virtual swipes take seconds to perform with minimal disruption to the conference. Average satisfaction for the platform was rated as 4.69 on a scale of 1 to 5. All respondents agreed or strongly agreed that use of the platform should be continued for future years, with 85% strongly agreeing.
Conclusion
: We developed an online platform for radiology conference attendance logging and evaluation, designed for virtual conferences.
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