Summary
Objectives:
As controlled medical terminologies evolve from simple code-name-hierarchy arrangements,
into rich, knowledge-based ontologies of medical concepts, increased demands are placed
on both the developers and users of the terminologies. In response, researchers have
begun developing tools to address their needs. The aims of this article are to review
previous work done to develop these tools and then to describe work done at Columbia
University and New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH).
Methods:
Researchers working with the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED), the
Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), and NYPH’s Medical Entities Dictionary (MED)
have created a wide variety of terminology browsers, editors and servers to facilitate
creation, maintenance and use of these terminologies.
Results:
Although much work has been done, no generally available tools have yet emerged.
Consensus on requirement for tool functions, especially terminology servers is emerging.
Tools at NYPH have been used successfully to support the integration of clinical applications
and the merger of health care institutions.
Conclusions:
Significant advancement has occurred over the past fifteen years in the development
of sophisticated controlled terminologies and the tools to support them. The tool
set at NYPH provides a case study to demonstrate one feasible architecture.
Keywords
Terminology - Vocabulary - Semantics - Hospital Information Systems
