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Using ECA Rules in Database Systems to Support Clinical Protocols

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Book cover Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2453))

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Abstract

Computer-based support for clinical protocols or guidelines is currently a subject of a lot of interest within the Healthcare Informatics community. The Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rule paradigm, as supported in active databases and originating from production rules in expert systems, promises to be of great potential in supporting clinical protocols or guidelines. The problem being addressed in the authors’ work is that of managing complex information encountered in the management (i.e., the specification, execution and manipulation as well as querying) of clinical protocols whose specification and execution models are based on the ECA rule paradigm. This paper presents a generic framework and a mechanism for the management of ECA rule-based protocols using modern database technology.

A clinical guideline is “a set of schematic plans, at varying levels of detail, for the management of patients who have a particular clinical condition (e.g. insulin-dependent diabetes)” [1]. Clinical protocols are highly detailed clinical guidelines and are usually mandatory [2]. In this paper, the terms clinical guideline and clinical protocol refer to the same concept and are interchangeable.

An ECA rule monitors and reacts to a situation by performing a relevant action or task. Situation monitoring involves detecting an cyevent of interest and evaluating a condition associated with the event. The action is performed only if the condition holds [3].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, School of Computing, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

    Kudakwashe Dube & Bing Wu

  2. Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

    Jane B. Grimson

Authors
  1. Kudakwashe Dube
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  2. Bing Wu
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  3. Jane B. Grimson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paul Sabatier, IRIT, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Abdelkader Hameurlain

  2. Département Informatique, Université Aix-Marseille II, IUT, 413 Avenue Gaston Berger, 13625, Aix-en-Provence Cedex 1, France

    Rosine Cicchetti

  3. Institute of Applied Computer Science, University of Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Roland Traunmüller

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dube, K., Wu, B., Grimson, J.B. (2002). Using ECA Rules in Database Systems to Support Clinical Protocols. In: Hameurlain, A., Cicchetti, R., Traunmüller, R. (eds) Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2453. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46146-9_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46146-9_23

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44126-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46146-3

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