<p>Cardiac Catheterization is complex, especially from a workflow perspective. Evidence-gathering activities may begin before an order is placed; in fact, orders are often not created for a cardiac catheterization procedure due to its frequent emergency nature. There may be a variety of imaging, measurement, and reporting systems that need to coordinate to use the same patient identifier, and to assure that the evidence produced is all associated with the same procedure. Further, the procedure itself may include both diagnostic and interventional or therapeutic aspects, and may extend over a long time period (several hours).</p><p> The Cardiac Catheterization Workflow Integration Profile establishes the continuity and integrity of basic patient data in the context of the cardiac catheterization procedure. This profile deals specifically with consistent handling of patient identifiers and demographic data, including that of emergency patient presentation where the actual patient identity may not be established until after the beginning of the procedure, or even a significant time after the completion of the procedure. It also specifies the scheduling and coordination of procedure data across a variety of imaging, measurement, and analysis systems, and its reliable storage in an archive from where it is available to support subsequent workflow steps, such as reporting. It also provides central coordination of the completion status of steps of a potentially multi-phase (diagnostic and interventional) procedure.<p>