IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information.
Systems that support IHE Integration Profiles interoperate better, are easier to implement, and help care providers use information more effectively. The goal is efficient delivery of optimal patient care. Several hundred products support one or more IHE Profiles.
Integration Profiles describe clinical information management use cases and specify how to use existing standards (HL7, DICOM, etc,...) to address them. Systems that implement integration profiles solve interoperability problems.
* For equipment vendors, Integration Profiles are implementation guides.
* For healthcare providers, Integration Profiles are a shorthand for integration requirements in purchasing documents.
IHE is organized into Domains which each address problems in one area of healthcare.
This March 17th 2008 in Brussels there were 17 participants for the 2nd IHE Europe Pharmacy meeting.
There is a detailed post by Simon Letellier in Informatique Médicale,TIC & Pharmacie (http://simonletellier.blogspot.com/2008/03/2nd-ihe-europe-pharmacy-meeting.html), where you can be informed for all the details concerning this second meeting of the pharmacy group.
Sources
http://www.ihe.net/
http://wiki.ihe.net/index.php?title=EPharmacy_Workshop_17_March_2008-Minutes
http://simonletellier.blogspot.com/2008/03/2nd-ihe-europe-pharmacy-meeting.html
Dear Leonidas,
Just notice that my post is a "live post", notes taken during the meeting, so they are not easy reading.
Many thanks to provide this great and clear introduction! ;-)