Semantic Web-Based Information Systems: State-of-the-Art ...

Shabo & Hughes
Table 2. How semantic interoperability of family history information can improve
current practices
CURRENT MEDICAL APPROACH ENVISIONED APPROACH
Martha Franc s s a -year-old woman w th
ovar an cancer. She has a fam ly h story of
breast and ovar an cancer and bel eves she
may be carry ng a BRCA or BRCA mutat on
(wh ch pred sposes to breast and ovar an
cancer).
She downloads the Surgeon General’s Fam ly
H story tool onto her computer at home and
enters her fam ly h story.
She then pr nts out her nformat on onto paper
and br ngs the paper to her cl n c an.
Her cl n c an types the nformat on from the
paper nto the homegrown electron c med cal
record (EHR).
The cl n c an rev ews the fam ly h story w th the
pat ent and makes correct ons and add t ons n
the EHR.
The pat ent s cons dered to be at h gh r sk of
hav ng a mutat on, and th s nformat on s g ven
to her.
Martha Franc s s a -year-old woman w th
ovar an cancer. She has a fam ly h story of
breast and ovar an cancer and bel eves she may
be carry ng a BRCA or BRCA mutat on (wh ch
pred sposes to breast and ovar an cancer).
She uses the Surgeon General’s Fam ly H story
Web-based tool from her home and enters her
fam ly h story.
She then sends the data to her cl n c an (the
Surgeon General’s tool uses Web Serv ces to
export ts data to the HL format and then to
transform t to the cl n c an's system format).
Her cl n c an s able to see her fam ly h story as
part of the homegrown electron c health record
(EHR) system used n the cl n c an's off ce.
The cl n c an rev ews the fam ly h story w th the
pat ent and makes correct ons and add t ons n
fam ly h story nformat on of the pat ent's EHR.
The pat ent s cons dered to be at h gh r sk of
hav ng a mutat on, and th s nformat on s g ven
to her.
She s referred to a r sk cl n c. She s referred to a r sk cl n c.
Franc s' fam ly h story deta ls are pr nted on
paper and sent to the r sk cl n c.
The counselor at the r sk cl n c (nurse
genet c st, nurse pract t oner, genet c
counselor, doctor, etc.) types the data nto a
number of programs: ( ) Progeny (Progeny,
00 ) to draw a ped gree; ( ) CAGENE
(CaGene, 00 ) to run r sk models; and ( ) a
homegrown M crosoft Access database to hold
var ous and sundry other data. The counselor
then rev ews the fam ly h story nformat on
collected by the pr mary cl n c an, ed ts t,
rev ews results of the r sk model algor thms,
dec des what genet c syndrome her fam ly
m ght have, and categor zes the pat ent as to
degree of r sk.
The counselor speaks w th the pat ent and
adds add t onal nformat on to the databases.
If there have been any changes or add t ons to
the fam ly h story, the counselor runs the
computer models aga n.
Franc s' fam ly h story deta ls are sent to the r sk
cl n c (the cl n c an's system uses Web Serv ces
to export ts data to the HL format and then to
transform t to the r sk cl n c's requ red format).
The counselor at the r sk cl n c (nurse genet c st,
nurse pract t oner, genet c counselor, doctor,
etc.) mports the pat ent's fam ly h story
nformat on nto a number of programs: ( )
Progeny (Progeny, 00 ) to draw a ped gree; ( )
CAGENE (CaGene, 00 ) to run r sk models;
and ( ) a homegrown M crosoft Access
database to hold var ous and sundry other data.
The counselor then rev ews the fam ly h story
nformat on collected by the pr mary cl n c an,
ed ts t, rev ews results of the r sk model
algor thms, dec des what genet c syndrome her
fam ly m ght have, and categor zes the pat ent
as to degree of r sk.
The counselor speaks w th the pat ent and adds
add t onal nformat on to the databases.
If there have been any changes or add t ons to
the fam ly h story, the counselor runs the
computer models aga n.
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