OBJECTIVE
Develop a model for structured and encoded representation of medical information that supports human review, decision support applications, ad hoc queries, statistical analysis, and natural-language processing.
DESIGN
A medical information representation model was developed from manual and semiautomated analysis of patient data. The key assumption of the model is that medical information can be represented as a series of linked events. The event representation has two main components. The first component is a frame or template definition that specifies the attributes of the event. The second component is a structured vocabulary, the terms of which are taken as the values of the slots in the event template structure. Individual event instances are linked by specific named relationships.
RESULTS
The proposed model was used to represent a chest-radiograph report.
CONCLUSIONS
The event model of medical information representation provides a mechanism for formal definition of the logical structure of medical data and allows explicit time-oriented and associative relationships between event instances.