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Methods Inf Med 2001; 40(03): 204-212
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634167
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

Partitioning an Object-Oriented Terminology Schema

H. Gu
1   Dept. of Health Informatics, University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ, Newark, USA
,
Y. Perl
2   CIS Dept., New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
,
M. Halper
3   Dept. of Mathematics & Computer Science, Kean University, Union, NJ, USA
,
J. Geller
2   CIS Dept., New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
,
F. Kuo
2   CIS Dept., New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
,
J. J. Cimino
4   Dept. of Medical Informatics, Colombia University, New York, NY, USA
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
07 February 2018 (online)

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Abstract:

Controlled medical terminologies are increasingly becoming strategic components of various healthcare enterprises. However, the typical medical terminology can be difficult to exploit due to its extensive size and high density. The schema of a medical terminology offered by an object-oriented representation is a valuable tool in providing an abstract view of the terminology, enhancing comprehensibility and making it more usable. However, schemas themselves can be large and unwieldy. We present a methodology for partitioning a medical terminology schema into manageably sized fragments that promote increased comprehension. Our methodology has a refinement process for the subclass hierarchy of the terminology schema. The methodology is carried out by a medical domain expert in conjunction with a computer. The expert is guided by a set of three modeling rules, which guarantee that the resulting partitioned schema consists of a forest of trees. This makes it easier to understand and consequently use the medical terminology. The application of our methodology to the schema of the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) is presented.

Keywords:

Medical Terminology - Partitioning - Object-oriented Schema - Forest Hierarchy - Comprehension
 

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