Using Enterprise Ontology for Improving the National Health System - Demonstrated in the Case of a Pharmacy and an Emergency Department

David Dias, Carlos Mendes, Miguel Mira da Silva

2012

Abstract

The global healthcare spending has constantly increased in the last decades, and there is data showing inefficiency in resource consumption that is not reflected in healthcare improvement. The need to introduce new ways to do the same thing at a lower cost is rational. To address this, we propose a method based on Design Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO) to find non value-added transactions that must be redesigned to simplify processes. This methodology was chosen as a basis for our solution because it provides a better understanding of the dynamics of an organization, and allows a good alignment between the enterprise design and operation. A demonstration was accomplished within an Emergency Medical Service and a Pharmacy, making it possible to find transactions that can be improved or automated. Evaluation was carried out by means of interviews, the Four Principles from Österle et al., and the Moody and Shanks Quality Framework. Results prove that the method yields an adequate and clear process view and is reliable when it comes to improving healthcare operational processes.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Dias D., Mendes C. and Mira da Silva M. (2012). Using Enterprise Ontology for Improving the National Health System - Demonstrated in the Case of a Pharmacy and an Emergency Department . In Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Ontology Development - Volume 1: SSEO, (IC3K 2012) ISBN 978-989-8565-30-3, pages 441-451. DOI: 10.5220/0004133004410451

in Bibtex Style

@conference{sseo12,
author={David Dias and Carlos Mendes and Miguel Mira da Silva},
title={Using Enterprise Ontology for Improving the National Health System - Demonstrated in the Case of a Pharmacy and an Emergency Department},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Ontology Development - Volume 1: SSEO, (IC3K 2012)},
year={2012},
pages={441-451},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004133004410451},
isbn={978-989-8565-30-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Ontology Development - Volume 1: SSEO, (IC3K 2012)
TI - Using Enterprise Ontology for Improving the National Health System - Demonstrated in the Case of a Pharmacy and an Emergency Department
SN - 978-989-8565-30-3
AU - Dias D.
AU - Mendes C.
AU - Mira da Silva M.
PY - 2012
SP - 441
EP - 451
DO - 10.5220/0004133004410451