The role of ontologies and decision frameworks in computer-interpretable guideline execution

Abstract

Computer-Interpretable Guidelines (CIGs) are machine readable representations of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) that serve as the knowledge base in many knowledge-based systems oriented towards clinical decision support. Herein we disclose a comprehensive CIG representation model based on Web Ontology Language (OWL) along with its main components. Additionally, we present results revealing the expressiveness of the model regarding a selected set of CPGs. The CIG model then serves as the basis of an architecture for an execution system that is able to manage incomplete information regarding the state of a patient through Speculative Computation. The architecture allows for the generation of clinical scenarios when there is missing information for clinical parameters.