A Data retrieval Model for Distributed Heterogeneous Pharmacy Information Sources

Abstract: The need for sharing data in various domains has increased significantly over the past decades and has become the focus of many theoretical works as numerous data-related problems remain unsolved. Hospitals exemplify this notion given that they are complex institutions with constantly evolving patient-related services and ever-growing data stored on heterogeneous data sources. The purpose of this research is to solve the patients’ issue in checking drug availability in pharmacies in their vicinity, specifically for pharmacies in Saudi Arabia.A qualitative study was conducted to obtain a comprehensive view from two hospitals in Riyadh, KSA about their HIS implementation and the integration approaches used. To address the data integration challenges faced by these hospitals, a data retrieval model to integrate data from heterogeneous sources has been developed and tested.Various reasons affect the successful implementation and adoption of HIS. The main reason for the lack of HIS adoption in Saudi Arabia is due to the lack of expertise in systems integration and weak integration planning and architecting. This thesis looked at integration approaches and found that there is no single optimal integration approach for solving complex integration issues. A combination of multiple integration approaches should be utilized to leverage the advantages of the various approaches. One of the main components of the HIS is the Pharmacy Information system (PIS) which is responsible for storing and managing medication-related data, however, PISs in pharmacies are considered heterogeneous and not integrated, therefore users cannot conduct searches for medication availability across multiple pharmacies. A data Retrieval Model has been designed to integrate heterogeneous data sources and has been validated by implementing a mockup E-Pharmacy mobile application that helps the user search for medications in pharmacies in Saudi Arabia. This data retrieval model can be applied in many fields and benefit various organizations in their data integration initiatives.

Keywords: Data Integration, drug availability, mobile application, Pharmacy information system, Distributed system, Vision 2030.

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003769

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