Abstract
This paper describes several approaches to the expression and coding of clinical concepts as composites of elementary entities, and describes an approach based on SNOMED RT that may permit further convergence of clinical terminology efforts. We explain the shortcomings of previous approaches to compositional concept representation, as well as the reasons for SNOMED's current approach, which adopts a foundation based in description logics (DLs). The DL model has many advantages: it establishes a formal semantics for SNOMED assertions and suggests a syntax; it provides a basis for understanding expressiveness and computational complexity, through correspondence with known results from DLs; and it helps to clarify the relationships among existing concept representation methods in SNOMED, NHS Clinical Terms (formerly the Read Codes), and GALEN, making a path to convergence more clear.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Campbell K. E., Das A. K., Musen M. A. A logical foundation for representation of clinical data. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1994 May-Jun;1(3):218–232. doi: 10.1136/jamia.1994.95236154. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chute C. G., Cohn S. P., Campbell K. E., Oliver D. E., Campbell J. R. The content coverage of clinical classifications. For The Computer-Based Patient Record Institute's Work Group on Codes & Structures. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1996 May-Jun;3(3):224–233. doi: 10.1136/jamia.1996.96310636. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dolin R. H., Huff S. M., Rocha R. A., Spackman K. A., Campbell K. E. Evaluation of a "lexically assign, logically refine" strategy for semi-automated integration of overlapping terminologies. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1998 Mar-Apr;5(2):203–213. doi: 10.1136/jamia.1998.0050203. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Evans D. A., Cimino J. J., Hersh W. R., Huff S. M., Bell D. S. Toward a medical-concept representation language. The Canon Group. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1994 May-Jun;1(3):207–217. doi: 10.1136/jamia.1994.95236153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rector A. L., Bechhofer S., Goble C. A., Horrocks I., Nowlan W. A., Solomon W. D. The GRAIL concept modelling language for medical terminology. Artif Intell Med. 1997 Feb;9(2):139–171. doi: 10.1016/s0933-3657(96)00369-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]