gms | German Medical Science

Background: Arden syntax for medical logical module (MLM) is a language for representing medical knowledge [1]. Although it has been standardized and promoted by HL7 since more than 20 years, however, the utilization of Arden syntax in health care is still limited. Sharing of MLM between different health care institutions can promote the adoption of Arden syntax. Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center has published a MLM knowledge repository with web technology, however, the MLMs are published in a static list [2]. The static web page could be expanded, so that the users can comment MLMs or write new MLM [3]. With the development of technology, Web 2.0 as an interactive online tool for maintaining and sharing MLM appears effectively and is recommended [3]. The first objective is to design and develop an interactive web-based platform for maintaining and sharing of Arden syntax MLMs. The second objective is to create a MLM based knowledge repository in the context of smart home care.

Methods: To develop the platform for maintaining and sharing of MLM, Web 2.0 technologies are used. The open source project EditArea is used to build the Arden editor, so that the MLM can be easily created and edited [4]. For the compiling and execution of MLM, the open source compiler Arden2ByteCode is used [5]. To store the MLM in the platform, MySQL database is used. To build the knowledge repository with the developed platform, a literature review is conducted. The rules found during the literature review serve as source of the knowledge repository.

Results: The Web 2.0 based platform “MLM-Online” including a one-pass Arden compiler and an Arden editor for maintaining and sharing MLM has been implemented. This platform enables users not only to view, create, comment and search MLMs, but also to compile and execute them. The platform has a client-server architecture and the server program is deployed on a Tomcat server. When the server receives the request of compiling a MLM, it calls the Arden2ByteCode compiler to check the MLM’s syntax and then compiles it into Java byte code. An interface for passing the input and output parameters for the execution of MLM has been implemented. Users of this platform are classified into different roles, so that they can be hierarchically managed.

88 rules from a knowledge repository in the context of smart home care have been found through a literature review. All of the rules are written in Arden syntax and maintained using the MLM-Online platform. Within the platform, all of these MLMs are compiled and executed correctly.

Conclusion: Decision support systems are effective for improving health care quality and reducing medical cost. The MLM-Online collaboration platform enables maintaining and sharing of MLM in an easy-to-access and interactive way. In addition, the platform can promote the application of Arden syntax. However, the functions of the platform are still limited, and the platform has to be evaluated by multiple users.