CHARACTERIZATION OF A LONGITUDINAL CARE PLAN MODEL FOR MANAGING CHRONIC DISEASES: A CARE PLAN ONTOLOGY TO COMPUTERIZE PAPER- BASED CARE PLANS

Abstract

Chronic diseases are the largest cause of morbidity and mortality. Due to long course there is a need to plan longitudinal care for chronic disease. In this thesis, we aim to standardize the longitudinal care process for chronic disease in the form of Generic Care Plan Model. We adapted knowledge management approach and our research is guided by Methontology for developing formal knowledge model. This knowledge model is represented as Care Plan Ontology to facilitate the computerization of care plans. We instantiated our Care Plan Ontology using paper based care plans of chronic diseases generated during the research process. We evaluated our Care Plan Ontology in 4 phases (a) Using Pellet reasoner to ensure consistency (b) Instantiation of 3 new care plans for chronic diseases (c) Instantiation of patient specific case to ensure that model is capable to handle personalised information (d) Evaluation on the basis of Ontological design principles.