Meta Data Dictionary to Link and Reuse Knowledge- based Systems in Medicine

Knowledge-based systems can hardly be introduced in clinical routine, if they do not operate directly with clinical data. Problems of terminological integration and correct application of decision-aids are discussed. This paper describes an approach to integrate different types of published decision-aids in a knowledge-based system linked to clinical documentation via a meta data dictionary approach. For a prototypical application decision-aids from the clinical field of acute abdominal pain were chosen. The meta data dictionary approach is compared to other existing systems, dealing with terminological integration via ontologies.