Abstract:
Controlled medical terminologies are increasingly becoming strategic components of
various healthcare enterprises. However, the typical medical terminology can be difficult
to exploit due to its extensive size and high density. The schema of a medical terminology
offered by an object-oriented representation is a valuable tool in providing an abstract
view of the terminology, enhancing comprehensibility and making it more usable. However,
schemas themselves can be large and unwieldy. We present a methodology for partitioning
a medical terminology schema into manageably sized fragments that promote increased
comprehension. Our methodology has a refinement process for the subclass hierarchy
of the terminology schema. The methodology is carried out by a medical domain expert
in conjunction with a computer. The expert is guided by a set of three modeling rules,
which guarantee that the resulting partitioned schema consists of a forest of trees.
This makes it easier to understand and consequently use the medical terminology. The
application of our methodology to the schema of the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED)
is presented.
Keywords:
Medical Terminology - Partitioning - Object-oriented Schema - Forest Hierarchy - Comprehension
