Summary
Objective: Semantic interoperability of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) requires a rigorous
and precise modelling of clinical information. Our objective is to facilitate the
representation of clinical facts based on formal principles.
Methods: We here explore the potential of ontology content patterns, which are grounded on
a formal and semantically rich ontology model and can be specialised and composed.
Results: We describe and apply two content patterns for the representation of data on tobacco
use, rendered according to two heterogeneous models, represented in openEHR and in
HL7 CDA. Finally, we provide some query exemplars that demonstrate a data interoperability
use case.
Conclusion: The use of ontology content patterns facilitate the semantic representation of clinical
information and therefore improve their semantic interoperability. There are open
issues such as the scalability and performance of the approach if a logic-based language
is used. Implementation decisions might determine the final degree of semantic interoperability,
influenced by the state of the art of the semantic technologies.
Citation: Martínez-Costa C, Schulz S. Ontology content patterns as bridge for the semantic
rRepresentation of clinical information Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 660–669
http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2014-04-RA-0031
Keywords
Electronic Health Records - Semantics - SNOMED CT - Knowledge Representation - HL7
CDA - OpenEHR