Accessing complex patient data from Arden Syntax Medical Logic Modules.

Journal: Artificial intelligence in medicine
Published Date:

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Arden Syntax is a standard for representing and sharing medical knowledge in form of independent modules and looks back on a history of 25 years. Its traditional field of application is the monitoring of clinical events such as generating an alert in case of occurrence of a critical laboratory result. Arden Syntax Medical Logic Modules must be able to retrieve patient data from the electronic medical record in order to enable automated decision making. For patient data with a simple structure, for instance a list of laboratory results, or, in a broader view, any patient data with a list or table structure, this mapping process is straightforward. Nevertheless, if patient data are of a complex nested structure the mapping process may become tedious. Two clinical requirements - to process complex microbiology data and to decrease the time between a critical laboratory event and its alerting by monitoring Health Level 7 (HL7) communication - have triggered the investigation of approaches for providing complex patient data from electronic medical records inside Arden Syntax Medical Logic Modules.

Authors

  • Stefan Kraus
    Center for Communication and Information Technology, University Hospital Erlangen, Glückstr. 11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany; Department of Medical Informatics, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Chair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Wetterkreuz 13, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
  • Martin Enders
    Center for Communication and Information Technology, University Hospital Erlangen, Glückstraße 11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: martin.enders@uk-erlangen.de.
  • Hans-Ulrich Prokosch
    Institute for Medical Informatics, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany; Center for Medical Information and Communication, Erlangen University Hospital, Erlangen, Germany.
  • Ixchel Castellanos
    Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Krankenhausstr. 12, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: ixchel.castellanos@kfa.imed.uni-erlangen.de.
  • Richard Lenz
    Department of Computer Science, Chair of Computer Science 6 (Data Management), Martensstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: richard.lenz@fau.de.
  • Martin Sedlmayr
    Department of Medical Informatics, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Chair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Wetterkreuz 13, 91058 Erlangen-Tennenlohe, Germany. Electronic address: martin.sedlmayr@fau.de.