Xml-based Intelligent Medical Writing Systems

Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is an important component of Health Information System (HIS). Clinical Data entry requires combination of structured data and flexibility. At the present time structured data entry is widely used in EPR system home and abroad, which can obtain data effectively and provide certain input convenience through use of template combination and customized template. But structured data entry restricts wide use of EPR system as a result of its inflexibility and hardness to express effective information of complex medical record. As far as flexibility is concerned, free-text data entry must be the best data entry method. It provides users with the freedom to determine the order and depth in which they want to describe data and retains complete information users express. Being a new data representation and data exchange technology, XML combines both document readability and data representation. Applying XML to EPR system can solve the problems of the management and input of flexible and complex clinical information. An intelligent EPR_writing system with free-text data entry was developed based on XML by us, in combination with knowledge representation technology.At first the thesis compares XML with other traditional data management method and analizes why XML is chosen as expression method of template and structured medical record, and discusses differences between XML and HTML, analyzes basic principles and characteristics of XML technology and summarizes principles of XML Document Object Model (DOM) and XML parser. Then discusses common knowledge representation method such as predicate logic, semantic network, production rule, frame etc. and probes into the application of predicate logic in EPR system. On the basis of discussion above, the thesis puts forward a system model and implementation scheme of intelligent EPR writing system based on XML(IEPRWS), and discusses design and implementation of IEPRWS, studies intensively difficulties IEPRWS faces, which are: template representation and structured medical record representation in XML expression, mapping between template and structured medicalrecord, invisible reservation in DHTML component of data structure and level structure template defines.Experimental results show that, technical scheme designed is applicable, and system implemented is basically practical too.