Question: is there a general guide for implementing CDA

Aug 17, 2011

Question:

I’m a beginner to HL7 CDA. Currently, I’m working on a project that my company take XML document from one of our clients and transform it into a CDA document.

What I have done so far were going through the CDA R2 standard, getting knowledge about the HL7 RIM (especially the CDA R-MIM), and looking for applicable templates for the document. I’ve applied for an eLearning course for learning HL7 standards (including V2.x,V3, and CDA), and will attend the WGM this September, 2011.

Since the eLearning course has not started yet the biggest problem I’m facing now is to look for any formalized process for developing CDA documents. I understand that CDA R2 provides a well-formatted structure description, and the implementation guides give instructions for applying in some scenarios but not all. However, it is still struggling to me when I found some elements from the client’s XML documents that didn’t fit into the requirements of the CDA structure.

I was wondering if there is any general guide for implementing CDA which I can customize for some situations beyond restricted descriptions.

I’m not sure how to answer this. Generally, there are several resources to help:

  • The CDA specification
  • The HL7 e-learning course
  • Keith Boone’s Book
  • The HL7 education meetings and the working group meetings

I don’t think that there’s any general guide other than these things. I think that the one thing I’d add to this is if there was some way to teach people the language of the RIM. It’s kind of viewed as arcane, and almost like a dead language. People study it, rather than talking it. I think it’s very useful to be able to “speak” it when trying to map data. Until you do, the whole process feels, well, it feels like a foreign language. But I’m afraid that the only way I know how to learn that is at an HL7 working group.

I’ll try and find time to post an example of this living language use - about identifiers - soon.