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The search filters in PubMed have become a cornerstone in information retrieval in evidence-based practice. However, the filter for diagnostic studies is not fully satisfactory, because sensitive searches have low precision. The objective of this study was to construct and validate better search strategies to identify diagnostic articles recorded on MEDLINE with special emphasis on precision.

Over the past years the number of medical registries has increased sharply. Their value strongly depends on the quality of the data contained in the registry. To optimize data quality, special procedures have to be followed. A literature review and a case study of data quality formed the basis for the development of a framework of procedures for data quality assurance in medical registries. Procedures in the framework have been [...]

Is the solution for medical errors medical or cognitive? In this AMIA2001 panel on medical error, we argued that medical error is primarily an issue for cognitive science and engineering, not for medicine, although the knowledge of the practice of medicine is essential for the research and prevention of medical errors. The three panelists presented studies that demonstrate that cognitive research is the foundation for theories of medical errors and [...]

The growth of the biomedical literature presents special challenges for both human readers and automatic algorithms. One such challenge derives from the common and uncontrolled use of abbreviations in the literature. Each additional abbreviation increases the effective size of the vocabulary for a field. Therefore, to create an automatically generated and maintained lexicon of abbreviations, we have developed an algorithm to match abbreviations in text with their expansions.

To test the hypothesis that most instances of negated concepts in dictated medical documents can be detected by a strategy that relies on tools developed for the parsing of formal (computer) languages-specifically, a lexical scanner ("lexer") that uses regular expressions to generate a finite state machine, and a parser that relies on a restricted subset of context-free grammars, known as LALR(1) grammars.

In September 2000, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research sponsored a meeting of experts and knowledgeable stakeholders to identify 1) the special information needs of pediatric care and 2) health service research questions related to the use of information technology in children's health care. Technologies that support the care of children must address issues related to growth and [...]