The Syntax and Semantics of the PROforma Guideline Modeling Language
- David R Sutton, BA, PhD,
- John Fox, BSc, PhD
- Affiliations of the authors: Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England (DRS); Advanced Computation Laboratory, Cancer Research, London, UK (JF)
- Correspondence and reprints: David R. Sutton, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England; e-mail: <david.r.sutton{at}ntlworld.com>.
- Received 4 October 2002
- Accepted 13 May 2003
Abstract
PROforma is an executable process modeling language that has been used successfully to build and deploy a range of decision support systems, guidelines, and other clinical applications. It is one of a number of recent proposals for representing clinical protocols and guidelines in a machine-executable format (see <www.openclinical.org>). In this report, the authors outline the task model for the language and provide an operational semantics for process enactment together with a semantics for expressions, which may be used to query the state of a task during enactment. The operational semantics includes a number of public operations that may be performed on an application by an external agent, including operations that change the values of data items, recommend or make decisions, manage tasks that have been performed, and perform any task state changes that are implied by the current state of the application. Disclosure: PROforma has been used as the basis of a commercial decision support and guideline technology Arezzo (Infermed, London, UK; details in text).
Footnotes
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PROforma has been used as the interchange format and guideline specification language for a commercial decision support technology: Arezzo from InferMed Ltd. The first author has no connection with this company; the second is a stock-holder in the company but has no day-to-day involvement in its commercial activities.
