Development and implementation of a biomedical information network

Once the requirement for a biomedical information network has been articulated, the process of development and implementation can then be approached. Although the general architecture of such a system may appear to be self evident, there are careful design considerations that will allow the network to be robust and achieve increased levels of functionality as additional systems come on-line and become integrated into the network. As of this writing, there are few interoperability standards between the various medical systems that comprise the desired network. We have chosen the Emergin Orchestrator product (Boca Raton, Fl) as the vehicle for integrating these systems. The major design and implementation tasks include defining the basic information architecture, assessing the performance of the existing IT infrastructure, and understanding the native capabilities and limitations of each system involved in the network.