OntoCR: A CEN/ISO-13606 clinical repository based on ontologies

Abstract

Objective: To design a new semantically interoperable clinical repository, based on ontologies, conforming to CEN/ISO 13606 standard.

Materials and methods: The approach followed is to extend OntoCRF, a framework for the development of clinical repositories based on ontologies. The meta-model of OntoCRF has been extended by incorporating an OWL model integrating CEN/ISO 13606, ISO 21090 and SNOMED CT structure.

Results: This approach has demonstrated a complete evaluation cycle involving the creation of the meta-model in OWL format, the creation of a simple test application, and the communication of standardized extracts to another organization.

Discussion: Using a CEN/ISO 13606 based system, an indefinite number of archetypes can be merged (and reused) to build new applications. Our approach, based on the use of ontologies, maintains data storage independent of content specification. With this approach, relational technology can be used for storage, maintaining extensibility capabilities.

Conclusions: The present work demonstrates that it is possible to build a native CEN/ISO 13606 repository for the storage of clinical data. We have demonstrated semantic interoperability of clinical information using CEN/ISO 13606 extracts.

Keywords: CEN/ISO 13606; Clinical repository; Electronic health record; Information modeling; Ontologies; Semantic interoperability.