Medical Information Systems

Aim

The overall aim of the course is that students should acquire knowledge and skills in the form of structures and tools to be able to analyze information systems and the role of information technology in the health care sector. After completing the course, students are expected to be able to independently:

• Explain fundamental concepts of information retrieval and discuss sources of error associated with indexing and retrieval
• Describe the structure of the MEDLINE database and the MeSH controlled vocabulary, combine different search approaches, and analyze search strategies based on established quality measures
• Model data and design databases based on simple requirement specifications
• Describe the content, structure, and use of the patient record and contrast different ways of structuring record notes
• Describe the general idea of standardization efforts relating to patient record structure
• Describe how medical terminologies can be categorized and analyze how their properties influence the use in different situations
• Describe principles of formal concept representation and build ontologies with the help of ontology tools
• Search and utilize relevant literature and integrate the different parts of the course in order to elucidate and analyze problems within the area of the course

Content

• Indexing and retrieval of general medical knowledge and patient-specific information
• Measures of information quality and results of information retrieval
• MEDLINE and MeSH: search field, focus, explode, subheadings, and filters
• Categorization and evaluation of information sources
• ER modeling
• Databases: properties, structure, and use
• Regulations, structure, content, and use of the medical record
• Security and confidentiality in patient information processing
• The meta concepts of concept, term, relationship, and code
• Classification and coding
• Representation, abstraction, and aggregation
• Properties of terminologies: coverage, dimensions, hierarchies, compositionality, and synonymy
• Representation of medical terminology
• Interface, reference, and administrative terminologies; terminology services
• Needs for interoperability and possibilities of standardization