Abstract
Background There is a recognized need to improve how scholarly data are managed and accessed.
The scientific community has proposed the findable, accessible, interoperable, and
reusable (FAIR) data principles to address this issue.
Objective The objective of this case study was to develop a system for improving the FAIRness
of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's State Emergency Department Databases
(HCUP's SEDD) within the context of data catalog availability.
Methods A search tool, EDCat (Emergency Department Catalog), was designed to improve the
“FAIRness” of electronic health databases and tested on datasets from HCUP-SEDD. ElasticSearch
was used as a database for EDCat's search engine. Datasets were curated and defined.
Searchable data dictionary-related elements and unified medical language system (UMLS)
concepts were included in the curated metadata. Functionality to standardize search
terms using UMLS concepts was added to the user interface.
Results The EDCat system improved the overall FAIRness of HCUP-SEDD by improving the findability
of individual datasets and increasing the efficacy of searches for specific data elements
and data types.
Discussion The databases considered for this case study were limited in number as few data distributors
make the data dictionaries of datasets available. The publication of data dictionaries
should be encouraged through the FAIR principles, and further efforts should be made
to improve the specificity and measurability of the FAIR principles.
Conclusion In this case study, the distribution of datasets from HCUP-SEDD was made more FAIR
through the development of a search tool, EDCat. EDCat will be evaluated and developed
further to include datasets from other sources.
Keywords
FAIR principles - data dictionary - Unified Medical Language System - findability
- accessibility - interoperability - reusability
