Biomedical subjects

A W Forrey

Publications and source records attributed to A W Forrey.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Development of the Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes (LOINC) vocabulary.

The LOINC (Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes) vocabulary is a set of more than 10,000 names and codes developed for use as observation identifiers in standardized messages exchanged between clinical computer systems. The goal of the study was to create universal names and codes for clinical observations that could be used by all clinical information systems. The LOINC names are structured to facilitate rapid matching, either automated or manual, between local vocabularies and the universal LOINC codes. If LOINC codes are used in clinical messages, each system participating in data exchange needs to match its local vocabulary to the standard vocabulary only once. This will reduce both the time and cost of implementing standardized interfaces. The history of the development of the LOINC vocabulary and the methodology used in its creation are described.

Classification↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Information and clinical pharmacology: role of the computer.

The author notes the need for information from a variety of sources in order to support decision processes of the clinical pharmacologist. One of the data-bases urgently required is a central collection of drug information, which includes quantitative pharmacokinetic data as well as qualitative data and which would be used in evaluating complex drug interactions as well as uncomplicated adverse reactions. The need to be able to link these data-bases with others is noted. The need to develop professional consensus on data-base structure algorithms and the lexicon and terms used to create such systems is discussed. The role of the various professional societies is suggested with the observation that examples of this kind of effort and an awareness of the need for its existence are on hand.

Computers↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Implementation of attractive dialogues in nutritive analysis and clinical dietetics information systems.

The implementation and evaluation of a system providing both extensive nutritive-analysis calculations and interactive capabilities are described. The extensive calculating ability of the system arose from the historic need for nutrient intake estimates in clinical investigation and nutritional research. The availability of computer-aided instruction (CAI) system software lead to adoption of the interactive style originating at Ohio State University. Capabilities evolved into an extended interactive processor utilizing an extensive data-base. The interactive processor functions either directly, for immediate response, or as a preprocessor for the more extensive processing system. Use of this capability by a dietetics consortium in the Pacific North-west has lead to definitions of effective and desirable styles of interaction by dietitians with a food and nutrient data-base. Hosting the PILOT CAI language with a high-level language, SAIL, allowed convenient and flexible dialogue creation as well as computational power. The central data-base was restructured on two occasions to accommodate the required characteristics for foods and their nutrients. The lack of interfaces between medical-information packages, and between languages, presently limits the growth of this system into a fully integrated component of the health-care information domain.

Computers↗