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The Unified Medical Language System

Toward a Collaborative Approach for Solving Terminologic Problems

Affiliations of the authors: Section on Medical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California (KEC, DEO, EHS); VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California (DEO).

Correspondence and reprints: Keith E. Campbell, Section on Medical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305.

Abstract The approach taken by the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), in which disparate terminology systems are integrated, has allowed construction of an electronic thesaurus (the Metathesaurus) that avoids imposing any restrictions upon the content, structure, or semantics of the source terminologies. As such, the UMLS has served as a unifying paradigm by providing appropriate links among equivalent entities that are used in different contexts or for different purposes. It accordingly provides a vehicle through which possibly orthogonal semantic models can co-exist within a single framework. This framework provides a model for the collaborative evolution of biomedical terminology and allows a synergistic relationship between the UMLS and its source terminology systems.

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