Structural validation of nursing terminologies

Hardiker, NR and Rector, AL 2001, 'Structural validation of nursing terminologies' , Journal of The American Medical Informatics Association, 8 (3) , pp. 212-221.

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Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study is twofold: 1) to explore the applicability of combinatorial terminologies as the basis for building enumerated classifications, and 2) to investigate the usefulness of formal terminological systems for performing such classification and for assisting in the refinement of both combinatorial terminologies and enumerated classifications.
Design: A formal model of the beta version of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) was constructed in the compositional terminological language GRAIL (GALEN Representation and Integration Language). Terms drawn from the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association Taxonomy I (NANDA taxonomy) were mapped into the model and classified automatically using GALEN technology.
Measurements: The resulting generated hierarchy was compared with the NANDA taxonomy to assess coverage and accuracy of classification.
Results: In terms of coverage, in this study ICNP was able to capture 77 percent of NANDA terms using concepts drawn from five of its eight axes. Three axes—Body Site, Topology, and Frequency—were not needed. In terms of accuracy, where hierarchic relationships existed in the generated hierarchy or the NANDA taxonomy, or both, 6 were identical, 19 existed in the generated hierarchy alone (2 of these were considered suitable for incorporation into the NANDA taxonomy and 17 were considered inaccurate), and 23 appeared in the NANDA taxonomy alone (8 of these were considered suitable for incorporation into ICNP, 9 were considered inaccurate, and 6 reflected different, equally valid perspectives). Sixty terms appeared at the top level, with no indenting, in both the generated hierarchy and the NANDA taxonomy.
Conclusions: With appropriate refinement, combinatorial terminologies such as ICNP have the potential to provide a useful foundation for representing enumerated classifications such as NANDA. Technologies such as GALEN make possible the process of building automatically enumerated classifications while providing a useful means of validating and refining both combinatorial terminologies and enumerated classifications.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Subjects / Themes > Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA075 Electronic computers. Computer science Subjects / Themes > R Medicine > RT Nursing Health and Wellbeing Subjects outside of the University Themes
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of The American Medical Informatics Association
Publisher:	Elsevier
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1067-5027
Related URLs:	Publication
Depositing User:	NR Hardiker
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2010 13:34
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2021 08:33
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/12144

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