Benefits of an Object-oriented Database Representation for Controlled Medical Terminologies
- New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey (HG, JG,YP); Kean University, Union, New Jersey (MH)
- Corresdpondence and reprints: Huanying Gu, PhD, CIS Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07120. e-mail: <helen{at}homer.njit.edu>
- Received 10 September 1998
- Accepted 23 February 1999
Abstract
Objective Controlled medical terminologies (CMTs) have been recognized as important tools in a variety of medical informatics applications, ranging from patient-record systems to decision-support systems. Controlled medical terminologies are typically organized in semantic network structures consisting of tens to hundreds of thousands of concepts. This overwhelming size and complexity can be a serious barrier to their maintenance and widespread utilization. The authors propose the use of object-oriented databases to address the problems posed by the extensive scope and high complexity of most CMTs for maintenance personnel and general users alike.
Design The authors present a methodology that allows an existing CMT, modeled as a semantic network, to be represented as an equivalent object-oriented database. Such a representation is called an object-oriented health care terminology repository (OOHTR).
Results The major benefit of an OOHTR is its schema, which provides an important layer of structural abstraction. Using the high-level view of a CMT afforded by the schema, one can gain insight into the CMT's overarching organization and begin to better comprehend it. The authors' methodology is applied to the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED), a large CMT developed at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Examples of how the OOHTR schema facilitated updating, correcting, and improving the design of the MED are presented.
Conclusion The OOHTR schema can serve as an important abstraction mechanism for enhancing comprehension of a large CMT, and thus promotes its usability.
Footnotes
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This work was supported in part by a cooperative agreement between the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, under HIIT contract 70NANB5H1011, and the Healthcare Open Systems and Trials consortium.
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↵* Throughout the paper, terms appear in boldface type. Property names appear in italics and are written in lowercase letters only.
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↵† This was the 1996 version; the MED has since grown to more than 59,000 concepts.
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↵‡ See the glossary in the appendix for a collection of the most important technical terms introduced in this paper.
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↵§ Information available at http://www.lexical.com.
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↵∥ Information available at http://www.ontyx.com.
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↵¶ Information available at http://www.isi.edu/isd/LOOM.
