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Most health care databases include time-stamped instant data as the only temporal representation of patient information. Many previous efforts have attempted to provide frameworks in which medical databases could be queried in relation to time. These, however, have required either a sophisticated database representation of time, including time intervals, or a time-stamp-based database coupled with a nonstandard temporal query language. In this work, the authors demonstrate how their previously described [...]

Integrating data that reside in different systems remains an often laborious process, requiring either manual steps or complicated programming. This paper describes a method for state-mandated reporting of childhood blood lead testing results that makes use of object linking and embedding technology and readily available software products to pull together information from different legacy systems. A terminal session emulator employs object linking and embedding automation to extract host data, and [...]

The "vocabulary problem" has long plagued the developers, implementers, and users of computer-based systems. The authors review selected activities of the Health Level 7 (HL7) Vocabulary Technical Committee that are related to vocabulary domain specification for HL7 coded data elements. These activities include: 1) the development of two sets of principles to provide guidance to terminology stakeholders, including organizations seeking to deploy HL7-compliant systems, terminology developers, and terminology integrators; 2) [...]

The 1999 debate of the American College of Medical Informatics focused on the proposition that medical informatics and nursing informatics are distinctive disciplines that require their own core curricula, training programs, and professional identities. Proponents of this position emphasized that informatics training, technology applications, and professional identities are closely tied to the activities of the health professionals they serve and that, as nursing and medicine differ, so do the corresponding [...]

Knowledge representation involves enumeration of conceptual symbols and arrangement of these symbols into some meaningful structure. Medical knowledge representation has traditionally focused more on the structure than the symbols. Several significant efforts are under way, at local, national, and international levels, to address the representation of the symbols though the creation of high-quality terminologies that are themselves knowledge based. This paper reviews these efforts, including the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) [...]

To query a clinical data repository (CDR) for answers to clinical questions to determine whether different types of fields (coded and free text) would yield confirmatory, complementary, or conflicting information and to discuss the issues involved in producing the discrepancies between the fields.

Health care leaders emphasize the need to include information technology and informatics concepts in formal education programs, yet integration of informatics into health educational programs has progressed slowly. The AMIA 1999 Spring Congress was held to address informatics educational issues across health professions, including the educational needs in the various health professions, goals for health informatics education, and implementation strategies to achieve these goals. This paper presents the results from [...]