Challenges to Pathology Informatics in the Era of the Electronic Medical Record
The Promise of Pathology Informatics
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Transcript of The Promise of Pathology Informatics
The Promise of Pathology Informatics
James J. Cimino, M.D.Department of Medical Informatics
Columbia University
Questions You WouldLike Answered
• How can we link patient record information to pathology specimens to support clinical research?
• If we can do this, what will be possible?
The Question I ThinkYou Need to Answer
• How can pathology information be represented to support data reuse?
What is “Data Reuse”?
In contrast to the primary use of health data (“show it to the doctor”)…
…any secondary use of the data for tasks ranging from direct patient care, to financial purposes, to research
My Goal for this Talk
• Expand upon the notion of data reuse
• Discuss representational issues needed for reuse
• Propose a challenge
First Admission: August, 1983
In August, 1983, a 50 year old male presented to the St. Vincent’s Hospital (NY) emergency room with a scalp laceration due to a falling paint can. The wound was cleaned and sutured, and the patient was give a follow up appointment for surgery clinic. Two weeks later, the patient was seen at the scheduled clinic visit and was found to have delayed healing of one portion of the wound. After several weekly visits, the poorly-healing area was excised and the wound was closed. The patient had a good result and was discharged from further follow up.
Second Admission - March, 1984
The patient was brought to the emergency room for recent increasing lethargy. Laboratory evaluation was remarkable only for a calcium of 17 mg/dl. The patient was treated aggressively with hydration and diuretics, but expired shortly after admission. A diagnostic report was received.
Prologue as Epilogue
The pathology report from the wound revision the previous September included the following phrase:
“Metastatic adenocarcinoma of uncertain origin is noted at the tissue margins”
What Happened?
• The primary use of the data was to produce a report
• An information system could have managed that report
• High-quality data representation could have supported the reuse of the data by a decision support system
Pathology Information Today
• Narrative reports
• Structured reports
• Coded data (ICD9-CM vs. SNOMED vs. Local Codes)
Potential for Reuse of Pathology Information
• Direct use by care providers• Billing• Quality assurance/Case management• Clinical research (including Outcomes)• Automated decision support• Integration with other information systems
ResearchDatabase
Example:Retrospective Clinical ResearchPathology System
Financial System
Laboratory System
Pharmacy System
Data Monitor
Repository
ResearchDatabase
Example:Prospective Clinical Research
Pathology System
Financial System
Laboratory System
Pharmacy System
Data Monitor
Repository
DecisionSupport KB
Example:Prospective Clinical Research
• Data monitor checks eligibility criteria
• Alert sent to subject recruiter
• Example: Biphosphonate Study
Example:Automated Decision Support
• Data monitor checks for triggering conditions
• Medical Logic Modules decide if warning conditions are present
• Message sent to appropriate channel
• Example: Tuberculosis culture result
Caveats: TB Example
• Monitors for delayed culture results
• Sends message if result not equal to the code “No growth”
• One day, dozens of alerts about positive results but no organism was reported
• What happened?
How the Lab Fooled the Alert
• Alert looked for results “No Growth”
• Lab started reporting “No Growth to Date”
• “No Growth to Date” “No Growth”
• Solution: Use the controlled terminology to map all No-Growth-like lab terms into a single class, and have the alert logic refer to the class.
No Growth after ...
How we Outsmarted the Lab
No Growth
No Growth after 48 Hours
No Growth after 72 Hours
“No Growth” Results
No Growth after 24 Hours
No Growth to Date
Example:Linking to On-line Resources
• Clinician reviewing reports will have information needs
• On-line information sources can satisfy that need
• Data from report can be used to automate the query
Linking Text Reports to On-line Information Sources
• Natural Language Processing
• Data representation to support reuse
• Codification of information needs
How does CPMC Support Data Reuse?
• Natural Language Processing
• High-quality controlled terminology ( “codes”)
High-Quality Terminology
• Concept oriented - with concept permanence
• Multiple synonyms
• Multiple hierarchies
• Semantic network of interconcept relations
• Integration of low-level (clinical) terminology with high-level (aggregation) terminology
LaboratoryTest
Medical Entities Dictionary
HasIngredient
Measures
Chemical
AminoglycosideAntibiotic
Gentamicin
Serum Gentamicin
Test
Drug
Injectable GentamicinTrade-Name: Garamycin"Has-Ingredient: GentamicinMeasures
Random Gentamicin Level
Main-MeSH:
Supplementary-MeSH: "Gentamicin/bl"
Measures: Gentamicin
Pathology Informatics“Grand Challenges”
• Representing the concepts in reports
• Represent the relationships among concepts in reports
• Representing the concepts for aggregation and retrieval
• Integration of the concepts
What Will Be Possible
• Data retrieval
• Data mining
• Improvements in report quality
• Improved reuse of data…
…including patient care
My Challenge to You
Ask not what informatics can do for you.
Ask what you can do for informatics.
Questions?