Facilitating physician-patient dialogue through ontology negotiation

Bi-directional miscommunication between health care providers and consumers can have adverse effects on the immediate participants, as well as long-term effects on populations of providers and consumers. Miscommunications regarding rationales for treatment, for example, can have far-reaching effects on both physician and patient behavior. We have tried to show how an agent-based tool, equipped with ontology negotiation, could help a physician communicate effectively with a patient. This seems to be a new application of ontology mapping.