Mapping the Entire Record—An Alternative Approach to Data Access from Medical Logic Modules

Abstract

Objectives This study aimed to describe an alternative approach for accessing electronic medical records (EMRs) from clinical decision support (CDS) functions based on Arden Syntax Medical Logic Modules, which can be paraphrased as “map the entire record.” Methods Based on an experimental Arden Syntax processor, we implemented a method to transform patient data from a commercial patient data management system (PDMS) to tree-structured documents termed CDS EMRs. They are encoded in a specific XML format that can be directly transformed to Arden Syntax data types by a mapper natively integrated into the processor. The internal structure of a CDS EMR reflects the tabbed view of an EMR in the graphical user interface of the PDMS. Results The study resulted in an architecture that provides CDS EMRs in the form of a network service. The approach enables uniform data access from all Medical Logic Modules and requires no mapping parameters except a case number. Measurements within a CDS EMR can be addressed with straightforward path expressions. The approach is in routine use at a German university hospital for more than 2 years. Conclusion This practical approach facilitates the use of CDS functions in the clinical routine at our local hospital. It is transferrable to standard-compliant Arden Syntax processors with moderate effort. Its comprehensibility can also facilitate teaching and development. Moreover, it may lower the entry barrier for the application of the Arden Syntax standard and could therefore promote its dissemination.

Automated provision of clinical routine data for a complex clinical follow-up study: A data warehouse solution

“…Great potential might also reside in the use of general application programming interfaces (API) added to the HIS, which, if available, could strongly support such study data collections, but without the data homogenization aspects of a CDW. 37,38 In contrast to the related work, our system was designed as an add-on to our CDW and can provide data for potentially any EDC system, by allowing to map a large amount of data to study visits and the specific variables prior to the import into the EDC system. Furthermore, we allow to transform granular data from the CDW, while connected on multiple levels (e.g., patient, case, and document) instead of multiple unconnected variables.…”

“…Great potential might also reside in the use of general application programming interfaces (API) added to the HIS, which, if available, could strongly support such study data collections, but without the data homogenization aspects of a CDW. 37,38…”

Patient Cohort Identification on Time Series Data Using the OMOP Common Data Model

“…The features relevant for this study are as follows: First, PLAIN provides native support of Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) 20 annotated data. Second, it provides a natively integrated data mapper for an XML format termed PLAIN Data Markup Language (PDML), 21 and third, it provides a shortcut for the call of other MLMs as user-defined functions (UDFs). These extended features will be explained in the examples below.…”

“…It is based on an alternative approach for accessing EMRs from MLMs. 21 We slightly adapted this approach for our needs of accessing data sets from a CDM: Our case record is an equivalent to the CDS EMR described there but has been modified in a way to represent case-based data. Therefore, in our use case, a case record constitutes an object the attributes of which correspond to the basic structure in ►Fig.…”