Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge Representation and Electronic Health Records

Decision Support Systems (DSSs) are systems that supports decision-making activities. Their application in medical domain needs to face the critical issue of retrieving information from heterogeneous existing data sources, such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs). It is well-known that there exists a huge problem of standardisation. In fact, EHRs can represent the same knowledge in many different ways. It is evident that the applicability of DSSs strongly relies on the availability of homogeneous collections of data. On the other hand, the gap between DSSs and different EHRs can be bridged by exploiting middleware technologies.
In this paper, we tested CSL, a technology designed for working as a middleware between DSS and EHRs,
which is able to combine data taken from different EHR sources and to provide abstract and homogeneous
data to DSSs. Moreover, CSL has been used for implementing three Clinical Guidelines, in order to test its capability in representing complex work-flows. The performed analysis highlight strengths and limitations of the proposed approach.