A SYSTEM THAT FACILITATES THE ORIENTATION WITHIN PROCEDURE NOMENCLATURES THROUGH A SEMANTIC APPROACH

The representation of medical concepts should provide the flexibility required to support several purposes. We have implemented a model in w hich medical terms are represented in a standard format based on a sem antic description of the terms. We have focused on the description of procedures. Underlying this project is the assumption that information about medical procedures is crucial in the healthcare system. A proto type has been developed for urology. Because of the large number of te rms in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and the abundance of links between them, we have experimented in the use of the UMLS as th e foundation for our concept base. We assess the usefulness of this ap proach and discuss its improvements