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Methods Inf Med 1998; 37(01): 16-25
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634492
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

An Integrated Approach for a Knowledge-based Clinical Workstation: Architecture and Experience

B. Brigl
1   Department of Medical Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
,
P. Ringleb
2   Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
,
T. Steiner
2   Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
,
P. Knaup
1   Department of Medical Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
,
W. Hacke
2   Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
,
R. Haux
1   Department of Medical Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
07 February 2018 (online)

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Abstract:

Today, the demand for medical decision support to improve the quality of patient care and to reduce costs in health services is generally recognized. Nevertheless, decision support is not yet established in daily routine within hospital information systems which often show a heterogeneous architecture but offer possibilities of interoperability. Currently, the integration of decision support functions into clinical workstations is the most promising way. Therefore, we first discuss aspects of integrating decision support into clinical workstations including clinical needs, integration of database and knowledge base, knowledge sharing and reuse and the role of standardized terminology. In addition, we draw up functional requirements to support the physician dealing with patient care, medical research and administrative tasks. As a consequence, we propose a general architecture of an integrated knowledge-based clinical workstation. Based on an example application we discuss our experiences concerning clinical applicability and relevance. We show that, although our approach promotes the integration of decision support into hospital information systems, the success of decision support depends above all on an adequate transformation of clinical needs.

Keywords

Knowledge-based Clinical Workstation - Multiple Use of Patient - Data - Decision Support - Clinical Documentation - Management of Hospital - Information Systems
 

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