SEMPATH Ontology: modeling multidisciplinary treatment schemes utilizing semantics

IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed. 2012 Mar;16(2):235-40. doi: 10.1109/TITB.2011.2161588. Epub 2011 Jul 14.

Abstract

A dramatic increase of demand for provided treatment quality has occurred during last decades. The main challenge to be confronted, so as to increase treatment quality, is the personalization of treatment, since each patient constitutes a unique case. Healthcare provision encloses a complex environment since healthcare provision organizations are highly multidisciplinary. In this paper, we present the conceptualization of the domain of clinical pathways (CP). The SEMPATH (SEMantic PATHways) Oontology comprises three main parts: 1) the CP part; 2) the business and finance part; and 3) the quality assurance part. Our implementation achieves the conceptualization of the multidisciplinary domain of healthcare provision, in order to be further utilized for the implementation of a Semantic Web Rules (SWRL rules) repository. Finally, SEMPATH Ontology is utilized for the definition of a set of SWRL rules for the human papillomavirus) disease and its treatment scheme.

MeSH terms

  • Critical Pathways*
  • Delivery of Health Care / economics
  • Delivery of Health Care / methods*
  • Delivery of Health Care / organization & administration
  • Humans
  • Internet
  • Medical Informatics Applications*
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Semantics