CONFlexFlow: Integrating Flexible clinical pathways into clinical decision support systems using context and rules

We propose CONFlexFlow (Clinical cONtext based Flexible workFlow) as a novel approach for integrating clinical pathways into Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). It recognizes that clinical pathways involve frequent deviations and require considerable flexibility. Thus, integration of flexible pathways is critical for the success of CDSS. Further, it is based on a better understanding of clinical context through ontologies, and bringing them to bear in deciding the right rules for a certain activity. We also describe an approach for dynamically realizing context dependent medical activities in a clinical pathway based on the needs of a specific case. To illustrate the feasibility of our approach, we propose an implementation framework and present a proof of concept prototype using multiple open source tools. The role of semantic web technologies in realizing flexible clinical pathways and integrating them into CDSS is highlighted. Preliminary results from our initial implementation are discussed.