Stupid Question?

[Randy Colella]

I think I know the answer to this, but I was asked to double check.

Is there any way to send images (i.e JPGs) via an HL7 message?

Topic

[Steve Carter]

Yes, images, pdfs, etc. can be sent within HL7.  However, they must be base64 encoded.  If they are going to be running through any type of translate, they must be broken up into multiple segments to avoid going over the 64K field size limitation.

Let me know if you want more specific details.

Steve

[Jim Kosloskey]

Steve,

Couldn’t you just change the field length in the variant to infinite?

Then no need to build multiple segments – unless, of course, the receiving system has a problem with fields larger than 64k.

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

[Chris Brossette]

Steve Carter wrote:

Yes, images, pdfs, etc. can be sent within HL7.  However, they must be base64 encoded.  If they are going to be running through any type of translate, they must be broken up into multiple segments to avoid going over the 64K field size limitation.

Let me know if you want more specific details.

Steve

I am with Randy, we are looking at sending PDFs from our EKG system (MUSE) to McKesson’s HPF system.  I know it is possible but it would be great to see an example…..

Thanks Steve for your help….

Chris Brossette

MS Baptist Health Systems

601.968.1462

cbossette@mbhs.org

[Will Soper]

We send Muse EKGs to HPF via postscript. The result message contains a ZPS segment, which is just an encoded postscript document. All we do to decode the segment is:

puts $outfile [string map {

\F\ |

\S\ ^

\T\ &

\R\ ~

\E\ \

\X0A\ n

\X0D\ r

    } $ekg_strip]

and save $outfile to cold as a .ps file

[David Barr]

That’s not a very reliable way to decode HL7 escape sequences.  It will mess up on sequences like ETS .  I’ve got a short little proc that is more robust if you are interested.

[Author]

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