Standards

National standards facilitate clear communication and collaboration across the healthcare sector.

National standards

MiBa receives microbiological test results from departments of clinical microbiology (DCM) throughout Denmark. To use MiBa data, the information in the test results needs to have a uniform structure with common codes and well-established terminology. MiBa uses national standards to standardise data that otherwise are very differently structured.

National standards for the exchange of laboratory data are developed and maintained by MedCom.

The XRPT05 and XRPT06 standards

The standards used today are XRPT05 and XRPT06.

XRPT05 is widely used for the exchange of microbiological test results in Danish healthcare, whereas XRPT06 is used exclusively for sending test results from DCMs to MiBa or between DCMs. The standards are revised regularly and are available in different versions.

Information about national standards and codes within the healthcare area is available at the MedCom website.

Test results issued from DCMs or from MiBa for clinical use in, e.g., electronic health records or in Sundhedsjournalen follow the XRPT05 standard.

The XRPT06 standard allows DCMs to send additional information with the test result to MiBa, which is not shown to healthcare professionals. This additional information is not relevant for patient care but is important for the national surveillance of infections and microorganisms. Examples could be details of microbial characteristics and antimicrobial resistance data for surveillance purposes.

The standards can handle denied consent. If a patient has not consented to a particular test result being shown, it will not be viewable in MiBa or displayed via other systems based on MiBa. The test results will be transferred to MiBa regardless of the patient’s consent so that they can be included in the mandatory national surveillance and, if relevant, used for research purposes.

All data exchange to and from MiBa is handled within the Danish Health Data Network.

The Danish Health Data Network is a secured agreement-based network for data communication in Danish healthcare.