X-Mouse or Focus-Follow-Mouse on Windows 7

I started using Windows 7 only because my Windows XP machine's harddisk was failing on me. My new machine came with Windows 7 installed. After some tweaking the settings I could not find a way to enable the Focus-Follow-Mouse-Without-Raising-Windows behaviour I was used to. On Windows XP I used Tweak UI to enable this, but that doesnot exist for Windows 7. Turned out the following C# Console Application does the trick!

For more info look at the SystemParametersInfo function documentation at MSDN.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace SPI
{
    class Program
    {
        [DllImport("user32", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        public static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(uint uiAction, uint uiParam, bool pvParam, uint fuWinIni);

        /// Determines whether active window tracking (activating the window the mouse is on) is on or off. The pvParam parameter must point
        /// to a BOOL variable that receives TRUE for on, or FALSE for off.
        /// Windows NT, Windows 95:  This value is not supported.
        public const uint SPI_GETACTIVEWINDOWTRACKING = 0x1000;
        /// Sets active window tracking (activating the window the mouse is on) either on or off. Set pvParam to TRUE for on or FALSE for off.
        /// Windows NT, Windows 95:  This value is not supported.
        public const uint SPI_SETACTIVEWINDOWTRACKING = 0x1001;
        /// Determines whether windows activated through active window tracking will be brought to the top. The pvParam parameter must point
        /// to a BOOL variable that receives TRUE for on, or FALSE for off.
        /// Windows NT, Windows 95:  This value is not supported.
        public const uint SPI_GETACTIVEWNDTRKZORDER = 0x100C;
        /// Determines whether or not windows activated through active window tracking should be brought to the top. Set pvParam to TRUE
        /// for on or FALSE for off.
        /// Windows NT, Windows 95:  This value is not supported.
        public const uint SPI_SETACTIVEWNDTRKZORDER = 0x100D;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // set mouse to x-mouse behaviour, focus on window under mouse without raising the window to top
            bool enable = true;
            bool disable = false;
            SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETACTIVEWINDOWTRACKING, 0, enable, 0);
            SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETACTIVEWNDTRKZORDER, 0, disable, 0);
        }
    }
}

Everybody does Detailed Clinical Models

... and they don't even know it ;-)

DCM is like a closet where you can organize your clothes, metadata about a Clinical Model in. It is not restrictive, just gives guidance on good practices and information you have (or should have).
Forms of Clinical Models that cover parts of that metadata are: IMH Clinical Elements, OpenEHR/13606 Archetypes, Clinical Content Models, HL7 v3 Templates, BioSHaRE, BRIDGE and even Spreadsheets (used often). Normally when implemented in an EHR or Clinical Research Applications there will also be some Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
DCM is about organizing (documenting) all relevant metadata or references, e.g. SOP, data elements/structure, coding, use, mis-use, constraints/validation, business rules, derivation, etc. But it does not force you to document this.
There are multiple ways to document this. You could use a metadata tool, UML, spreadsheet, Mindmaps, EHR system, OpenClinica, Archetype Modeling Workbench, XML Editor, etc.
What the DCM Standard (ISO13972) and UML Styleguide do is give you guidance on how to use UML for Clinical Models. It tells you where to put the metadata such as author and status and which metadata should be registered with the model and which with a model repository were you store the model.

Archetype Modeling Language
Currently there is an initiative working toward an official OMG UML Profile for this called the Archetype Modeling Language (AML). Here we combine the efforts from OpenEHR, the DCM UML Styleguide, ISO11179 Metadata Registry, DoD/VA FHIM, Clinical Information Modeling Initiative and HL7 v3 in a form that can accommodate, but not replace, all.
The goal of AML is to be able to express Clinical Models in UML, and also to be able to generate downstream artifacts, such as ADL files. It will also enable other views of the model for specific stakeholders, e.g. mindmaps, spreadsheets, documents.
AML will also enable to import models defined in other forms, and the result will be a consistent view of those models, so that you can compare them.
Currently we are working on prototyping the profile in MDHT and Sparx Enterprise Architect. The OMG process is rigid (needs to be), and it is volunteer work, so work is slow :-(

Code versus Id

Why is it so difficult to see the difference between code and id?
Even in standards they mix the two. RFC3881, a standard for Audit Messages in Healthcare Applications used in NEN7513 and IHE ATNA, uses it wrong. Specificaly on EventID were the attributes are CodeSystem, etc, so it should be called EventCode.
In the ISO Datatypes used in HL7 there are two datatypes, namely II (Instance Identifier) and CD (Concept Descriptor).
I think the distinction is clear. There are codes for kinds of animals, and each animal has its own id in the form of a name. So my cat(==code) her name(==id) is Michi.
That's all folks.

Livescribe Podcast Recorder

This pen also works great as a podcasts recorder! You can use the internal microphone or the 3D microphone/earphone.
The audio is in aac format and can be saved as wav from the sessions view in Livescribe Desktop or you can just search for the aac file and convert it.
Here is how using the aTunes 1.13.1 (== great audio player/manager) command line tools in the win_tools directory:

• Convert the aac to a "audiodump.wav" file:
  mplayer c:\My Lifescribe\Library\...\Sessions\audio-#.aac -ao pcm:fast -vc null -vo null


• Encode to mp3:
  lame audiodump.wav audiodump.mp3 --tl [album name] --tt [title] --ta [artist] --ty [year]

Et voila. You got the audio as a mp3 file ready for publishing and listening on your mp3 player!
On to my first Healthcare IT podcast ;-) Don't even know if anyone is interested in healthcare standards news as a podcast... but I sure want it. There is so much happening on and so little time to read all the news...

Livescribe Talking Pen First Contact

Finally, almost half a year of searching for a way to get the pen in the Netherlands further; I got it on my desk!
Installing the software was easy, but then came the message "There is an important firmware upgrade...". I decided to just install it at once. Waiting, waiting, waiting.... the pen reboots and.... nothing :-(
When I used the pen, it just said "install the software..." or something like that.
Now here is why: After installing the firmware "System file" you see the pen reboot, the Livescribe logo appears and after that the time is displayed. The Livescribe Desktop now emulates a remove/reinsert of the USB device and waits for a signal that never comes on my laptop/USBport. The fix is easy, just take the pen of the cradle and put it back on again. Then Livescribe Desktop will finish the upgrade!

Up to the next challanges: writing a penlet and creating my own paper!

Paperless EHR in 1961!

Great to see how far we have come. In almost 50 years of development we still want the same: "Paperless healthcare". And we still have miles and miles of paper archives... Something is very wrong here.

Services are brewing @ HL7 v3 2.0

During the last few HL7 Work Group Meetings I noticed something is brewing. Specifically there are a lot of discussions on the Services (SOA) paradigm. At the last WGM in Kyoto (may 2009) someone even said "Messaging is dead, long live messaging". Originally HL7 was focused on messages and documents. The current Service idea synapse was not firing yet. The current state of technology has changed enormously since then. Most of the current ISVs are moving toward Services, even in healthcare IT. But where is HL7 in this? HL7 v3 is a perfect Common Information Model for an SOA! But HL7 v3 needs to accept and embrace the WS-* standards. The Architecture Review Board Workgroup of HL7 is working on this. They are creating the Service Aware Enterprise Architecture Framework (SAEAF) which will take HL7 v3 into the Services era.

See also: Joint OMG/HL7 Project.