Checking Guideline Conformance of Medical Protocols Using Modular Model Checking

Medical guidelines and protocols are documents aimed at improving the quality of medical care by offering support in medical decision making in the form of management recommendations based on scientific evidence. Whereas medical guidelines are intended for nation-wide use, and thus omit medical management details that may differ among hospitals, medical protocols are aimed at local use within hospitals and, therefore, include detailed information. Although protocols are often constructed on the basis of medical guidelines, the question is to which extent a protocol conforms to the guideline. Formal methods are applied to shed light on this issue. A Dutch medical guideline regarding the treatment of breast cancer, and a Dutch protocol based on it, are taken as an example.