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A L Rector

Publications and source records attributed to A L Rector.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Modeling nursing terminology using the GRAIL representation language.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study is to explore the use of formal systems to model nursing terminology. DESIGN: GRAIL is a formal, compositional terminologic language, closely related to frame-based systems and conceptual graphs, which allows concepts to be formed from atomic-level primitives and automatically classified in a multiple hierarchy. A formal model of the alpha version of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) classification of nursing interventions was constructed in GRAIL. MEASUREMENTS: The model was analyzed for completeness, coherence, clarity, expressiveness, usefulness, and maintainability. RESULTS: GRAIL is capable of representing the complete set of atomic-level concepts within the ICNP as well as certain cross-mappings to other vocabularies. It also has the potential to represent many more concepts, to an arbitrary level of detail. CONCLUSIONS: Formal systems such as GRAIL can overcome many of the difficulties associated with traditional nursing vocabularies without restricting the level of detail needed to describe nursing care.

Models, Theoretical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Structural validation of nursing terminologies.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study is twofold: 1) to explore the applicability of combinatorial terminologies as the basis for building enumerated classifications, and 2) to investigate the usefulness of formal terminological systems for performing such classification and for assisting in the refinement of both combinatorial terminologies and enumerated classifications. DESIGN: A formal model of the beta version of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) was constructed in the compositional terminological language GRAIL (GALEN Representation and Integration Language). Terms drawn from the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association Taxonomy I (NANDA taxonomy) were mapped into the model and classified automatically using GALEN technology. MEASUREMENTS: The resulting generated hierarchy was compared with the NANDA taxonomy to assess coverage and accuracy of classification. RESULTS: In terms of coverage, in this study ICNP was able to capture 77 percent of NANDA terms using concepts drawn from five of its eight axes. Three axes-Body Site, Topology, and Frequency-were not needed. In terms of accuracy, where hierarchic relationships existed in the generated hierarchy or the NANDA taxonomy, or both, 6 were identical, 19 existed in the generated hierarchy alone (2 of these were considered suitable for incorporation into the NANDA taxonomy and 17 were considered inaccurate), and 23 appeared in the NANDA taxonomy alone (8 of these were considered suitable for incorporation into ICNP, 9 were considered inaccurate, and 6 reflected different, equally valid perspectives). Sixty terms appeared at the top level, with no indenting, in both the generated hierarchy and the NANDA taxonomy. CONCLUSIONS: With appropriate refinement, combinatorial terminologies such as ICNP have the potential to provide a useful foundation for representing enumerated classifications such as NANDA. Technologies such as GALEN make possible the process of building automatically enumerated classifications while providing a useful means of validating and refining both combinatorial terminologies and enumerated classifications.

Nursing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Data decay, significance and confidentiality: a time-oriented data-model for comprehensive care.

Long-term computer-held clinical records present new problems for data organization and for the protection of patients' privacy. To maintain clarity and to protect confidentiality, it is important that most information becomes less accessible and less prominent with time. A data-model is presented which allows the representation and manipulation of complex time-dependent relationships among data, but which imposes sufficient limits to allow efficient corrections and deletions. One useful consequence of the model is a natural analogy and potential link to the methods of production systems and 'expert systems' currently being developed by workers in artificial intelligence.

Comprehensive Health Care↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Defaults, exceptions and ambiguity in a medical knowledge representation system.

Inheritance methods for general semantic networks which allow for exceptions are essential to representing medical knowledge in forms which are familiar to doctors. Such systems give rise to the possibility of ambiguity and problems of computational efficiency. Efficient computational methods using conventional hardware for inheritance and the detection of ambiguity in general semantic networks are described. These methods have been implemented in PROLOG in a knowledge management system which is being used in the development of intelligent drug information and medical decision support systems.

Algorithms↗