An integration profile of rule engines for clinical decision support systems

Rule engine has become an indispensable component for many clinical decision support systems. Due to the complexity and heterogeneity of clinical data, one big challenge for rule-based clinical applications is mapping the data from various data sources to rule variables. This paper proposed a rule engine integration profile that uses a shared ontology between the rule engine and external systems to facilitate data acquisition. Based on the integration profile, a diagnostic clinical decision support application was successfully deployed in a Chinese hospital.