This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gu, H. Articles by Perl, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gu, H. Articles by Perl, Y.

Benefits of an Object-oriented Database Representation for Controlled Medical Terminologies

¹ New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey.
² Kean University, Union, New Jersey.

Corresdpondence and reprints: Huanying Gu, PhD, CIS Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07120. e-mail: <helen{at}homer.njit.edu >.

Received for publication: 09/10/98; accepted for publication: 02/23/99.

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.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Min, Y. Perl, Y. Chen, M. Halper, J. Geller, and Y. Wang Auditing as Part of the Terminology Design Life Cycle J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc., November 1, 2006; 13(6): 676 - 690. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Cimino From Data to Knowledge through Concept-oriented Terminologies: Experience with the Medical Entities Dictionary J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc., May 1, 2000; 7(3): 288 - 297. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				H. Gu, Y. Perl, J. Geller, M. Halper, L.-m. Liu, and J. J. Cimino Representing the UMLS as an Object-oriented Database: Modeling Issues and Advantages J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc., January 1, 2000; 7(1): 66 - 80. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]