Teaching methods: Lecture & discussion.

• The Tower of Babel—a discussion of why standards are needed through a brief history of information systems in laboratories.
• A Figure of Speech—a discussion of three areas of standardization:
• Vocabulary (i.e., content standards such as LOINC, SNOMED)
• Grammar (i.e., transmission/structure standards such as HL7, X12, ASTM)
• Context (i.e., OS/software standards found in government such as DOS/WinX, WordPerfect, MS Access, Epi-Info, PHLIS, STELLAR, TIMMS, HARS, etc.)
• Herding Cats—a discussion of the standardization process and the major Standard Development Organizations.
• All that glitters¼ a discussion of the difficulties in "fitting" a national standard to a local project.

By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Understand and explain the detrimental effects and cost to having redundant non-communicating information systems in public health
• Explain the difference between naming standards, transmission protocol standards, and software.
• Understand that many standards exist for different inter-related fields and know where to go to learn more if needed.

• The Players—a glossary of acronyms from the standards world developed by CDCs HISSB.
• Copies of the presentation slides will be provided in class.

• A set of relevant URLs will be provided in class.

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