Semantic enrichment of clinical models towards semantic interoperability. The heart failure summary use case

OBJECTIVE To improve semantic interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs) by ontology-based mediation across syntactically heterogeneous representations of the same or similar clinical information. MATERIALS AND METHODS Our approach is based on a semantic layer that consists of: (1) a set of ontologies supported by (2) a set of semantic patterns. The first aspect of the semantic layer helps standardize the clinical information modeling task and the second shields modelers from the complexity of ontology modeling. We applied this approach to heterogeneous representations of an excerpt of a heart failure summary. RESULTS Using a set of finite top-level patterns to derive semantic patterns, we demonstrate that those patterns, or compositions thereof, can be used to represent information from clinical models. Homogeneous querying of the same or similar information, when represented according to heterogeneous clinical models, is feasible. DISCUSSION Our approach focuses on the meaning embedded in EHRs, regardless of their structure. This complex task requires a clear ontological commitment (ie, agreement to consistently use the shared vocabulary within some context), together with formalization rules. These requirements are supported by semantic patterns. Other potential uses of this approach, such as clinical models validation, require further investigation. CONCLUSION We show how an ontology-based representation of a clinical summary, guided by semantic patterns, allows homogeneous querying of heterogeneous information structures. Whether there are a finite number of top-level patterns is an open question.