Abstract
As the size and complexity of medical terminologies increase, terminology modelers
are increasingly hampered by lack of tools and methods to manage the development process.
This paper presents our use and ongoing evaluation of a description-logic classifier
to support cognitive scalability of the underlying terminology and our enhancements
to that classifier to support concurrent development utilizing semantics-based concurrency
control methods. Our enhancements, collectively referred to as the Galapagos, consist
of several applications that take locally-developed terminology enhancements from
multiple sites, identify conflicting design decisions, support the modelers' reconciliation
of the conflicting designs, and efficiently disseminate updates tailored for locally
enhanced terminologies. We have tested our ideas through concurrent evolutionary enhancement
of SNOMED International at three Kaiser Permanente regions and the Mayo Clinic. We
have found that the underlying environment has met our design objectives, and supports
semantic-based concurrency control, and identification and resolution of conflicting
design decisions.
Keywords
Distributed Development - Description Logic - Computer-supported Cooperative Work
- Semantics-based Concurrency Control - SNOMED - Medical Terminology - Organizational
Scaleability
