A guideline execution engine is a computer program which can interpret a clinical guideline represented in a computerized format and perform actions towards the user of an electronic medical record .
A guideline execution engine needs to communicate with a host clinical information system . Virtual Medical Record (vMR) is one possible interface which can be used.
The engine's main function is to manage instances of executed guidelines of individual patients.
Architecture
The following modules are generally needed for any engine:
interface to clinical information system
new guidelines loading module
guideline interpreter module
clinical events parser
alert/recommendations dispatch
The Guideline Interchange Format (GLIF) is a computer representation format for clinical guidelines .[ 1]
The format has several versions as it has been improved. In 2003 GLIF3 was introduced.
Use of third party workflow engine as a guideline execution engine
Some commercial electronic health record systems use a workflow engine to execute clinical guidelines. RetroGuide[ 2] [ 3]
See also
References
^ "Guideline Representation Page: GLIF 2.0, 3.4, 3.5 Specifications" . Stanford University, School of Medicine, InterMed Collaboratory .^ Huser, V.; Narus, S. P.; Rocha, R. A. (2010). "Evaluation of a flowchart-based EHR query system: A case study of RetroGuide" . Journal of Biomedical Informatics . 43 (1): 41–50. doi :10.1016/j.jbi.2009.06.001 . PMC 2840619 PMID 19560553 . ^ Huser V, Rasmussen LV, Oberg R, Starren JB (2011), "Implementation of workflow engine technology to deliver basic clinical decision support functionality", BMC Med Res Methodol , 11 : 43, doi :10.1186/1471-2288-11-43 PMC 3079703 PMID 21477364
Further reading