RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Transitioning to Digital Systems: The Role of World Health Organization’s Digital Adaptation Kits in Operationalizing Recommendations and Interoperability Standards
JF Global Health: Science and Practice
JO GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT
FD Johns Hopkins University- Global Health. Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs
SP e2100320
DO 10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00320
VO 10
IS 1
A1 Tamrat, Tigest
A1 Ratanaprayul, Natschja
A1 Barreix, Maria
A1 Tunçalp, Özge
A1 Lowrance, David
A1 Thompson, Jenny
A1 Rosenblum, Leona
A1 Kidula, Nancy
A1 Chahar, Ram
A1 Gaffield, Mary E.
A1 Festin, Mario
A1 Kiarie, James
A1 Taliesin, Brian
A1 Leitner, Carl
A1 Wong, Sylvia
A1 Wi, Teodora
A1 Kipruto, Hillary
A1 Adegboyega, Ayotunde
A1 Muneene, Derrick
A1 Say, Lale
A1 Mehl, Garrett
YR 2022
UL http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/10/1/e2100320.abstract
AB Key MessagesDigital adaptation kits (DAKs) translate World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for a health domain area into a package of business process workflows, core data needs, decision-support algorithms, linkages to indicators, and functional requirements that can then be more easily translated into digital systems.DAKs are part of the suite of tools within the WHO SMART (Standards-based, Machine-readable, Adaptive, Requirements-based, and Testable) guidelines approach to systematically reinforce clinical, public health, and data recommendations within digital systems.DAKs serve as a critical step in fulfilling WHO’s long-term vision of SMART guidelines for transforming guideline development, delivery, and application in the digital age. A key measure of success will be ensuring countries can adapt the generic DAKs according to their digital ecosystem and aligned to their national health policies.Collaborations across health program leads, digital health and health information systems focal points, implementers, software developers, and service providers will be critical for the effective use of DAKs within country contexts.Introduction:The transition from paper to digital systems requires quality assurance of the underlying content and application of data standards for interoperability. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed digital adaptation kits (DAKs) as an operational and software-neutral mechanism to translate WHO guidelines into a standardized format that can be more easily incorporated into digital systems.Methods:WHO convened health program area and digital leads, reviewed existing approaches for requirements gathering, mapped to established standards, and incorporated research findings to define DAK components.Results:For each health domain area, the DAKs distill WHO guidelines to specify the health interventions, personas, user scenarios, business process workflows, core data elements mapped to terminology codes, decision-support logic, program indicators, and functional and nonfunctional requirements.Discussion:DAKs aim to catalyze quality of care and facilitate data use and interoperability as part of WHO’s vision of SMART (Standards-based, Machine-readable, Adaptive, Requirements-based, and Testable) guidelines. Efforts will be needed to strengthen a collaborative approach for the uptake of DAKs within the local digital ecosystem and national health policies.