From medical guidelines to personalized careflows: The iCareflow ontological framework

Computer-Interpretable Guidelines (CIG) are Clinical Guidelines described in a language that can be interpreted by computers. They are often used to support physicians in a single point in time to design and test guidelines. The next steps are the application of CIGs to determine careflows, the personalization of careflows and their execution. This paper presents the iCareflow ontological framework which intends to support the adaptation of guidelines during the design phase in order to obtain personalized careflows. The proposed framework explores how guidelines, policies of the care institution, patient preferences, terminologies and other knowledge sources interact with each other to determine a patient-centric careflow. Scenarios and further applications of the framework are also provided.