The use of bioinformatics in care map analysis

Abstract

The need to expeditiously and quantitatively compare and contrast clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) led to the research and development of computational methods to analyze sepsis care maps, the graphical representations of CPGs. Current-day care maps have two drawbacks that do not allow computational comparison: (1) they exist as static graphical documents containing non-standardized vocabulary, and (2) there is no quantifiable means of examining and comparing CPGs. Both of these challenges can be addressed and possibly overcome through the use of bioinformatics paradigms and algorithms normally reserved for biological pathway analysis. A software system that embeds the static care maps was developed. It contained an underlying data model and offered one potential method of computationally comparing and contrasting these newly modified care maps.