A multiple-ontology template-based query interface for a clinical-guidelines search engine

A major problem in the effective use of computerized clinical guidelines is fast and accurate access at the point of care. Thus, we developed the Digital electronic Guideline Library (DeGeL) and a set of tools for incremental conversion of free-text guidelines into increasingly machine-comprehensible representations, including a search and retrieval engine. In previous research, we have designed and implemented Vaidurya, a multipleontology, concept-based and context-sensitive search and retrieval engine that exploit the hybrid nature of guideline representation in the DeGeL architecture. While Vaidurya offers a wide variety of querying options, which was found effective in improving the retrieval performance, it may be sometimes restricted by the user's limited familiarity with guideline ontologies or her clinical background. We therefore describe the Template-Based Query Interface. A novel approach, which we implemented, enables the user to exploit the ontology-based search capabilities in Vaidurya without being familiar with the details of the underlying ontologies or of the concepts hierqachy used for classification.