Searching an electronic medical record

Abstract

A method, system, and medium are provided for searching an electronic medical record. Search results are returned in response to a search query. The search query may be one or more designated medical concepts. The search results may be displayed according to a ranking that determines which search results are likely to be the most responsive to a query submitted by a particular clinician based on matching the most important clinical concepts in each document to the most important clinical concepts in the search query.

1 . One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of finding information in an electronic medical record, the method comprising:
 receiving a search query from a user to search the electronic medical record that is associated with a patient and that includes a plurality of electronic documents that describe a medical history for the patient;   identifying one or more components of the electronic medical record that contain text with one or more words that matches the search query;   determining, for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, a patient-subject status that indicates whether the patient is an object of a particular clinical concept recited in a particular component;   determining a query-responsiveness score using the patent-subject status for each of the one or more components that match the search query, wherein the query-responsiveness score indicates how responsive an individual component is to the search query;   presenting search results that communicate information describing each of the one or more components displayed ordered according to the query-responsiveness score assigned to each of the one or more components.   
     
     
         2 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes displaying one or more filter options that allows the user to filter the search results, wherein the one or more filter options are based on one or more of a clinical-concept in an individual search result, an aggregation of related clinical concepts, a clinical facility associated with the individual search result, and a document class associated with the individual search result. 
     
     
         3 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes receiving a selection of a search mode, wherein the search mode is a medical synonym match, wherein the one or more components of the electronic medical record matches the search query when at least a medical synonym of the one or more words in the search query is found within the one or more components of the electronic medical record, and wherein the medical synonyms match search mode includes matching two or more words or phrases that have a similar medical meaning. 
     
     
         4 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes receiving a selection of a search mode, wherein the search mode is set to match related concepts, and wherein the one or more components of the electronic medical record matches the search query when a clinical concept conveyed by the search query matches at least one related clinical concept recited in the one or more components of the electronic medical record, and wherein the clinical concept describes any aspect of a person's health condition. 
     
     
         5 . The media of  claim 4 , wherein determining the query-responsiveness score of each of the one or more components further includes:
 determining a truth status for said each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, wherein the truth status indicates whether said each particular clinical concept was expressed positively, negatively, ambiguously, or unknown;   determining a clinical-usage context for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, wherein the clinical-usage context describes how the clinical concept was used in a component;   determining a document-importance factor for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, wherein the document-importance factor measures a relevance of the particular clinical concept to a main subject of a particular document by analyzing other clinical concepts that are used in the particular document with the particular clinical concept;   determining a specificity factor for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components based on a degree of narrowness for a scope of said each particular clinical concept; and   wherein the query-responsiveness score for the individual component is increased when the patient-subject status for one or more of the clinical concepts identified within the component is affirmative, when the truth status for one or more of the clinical concepts identified within the component equals positive, when the clinical-usage context for one or more of the clinical concepts identified within the component directly relates to the patient, when the document-importance factor is high, and when the specificity factor for one or more of the clinical concepts identified within the component is high.   
     
     
         6 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes:
 expanding one or more primary clinical concepts recited in the search query to additional related clinical concepts, thereby generating a plurality of expanded clinical concepts to match with a particular one of the one or more components of the electronic medical record;   assigning a boost factor to each combination of an expanded clinical concept and the particular matching component of the electronic medical record, wherein the boost factor is higher when the expanded clinical concept is close to the one or more primary clinical concepts on a clinical-concept ontology and lower when the expanded clinical concept is remote from the one or more primary clinical concepts; and   wherein the boost factor is used to calculate the query-responsiveness score.   
     
     
         7 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes increasing the query-responsiveness score when a role of the user submitting the search query is in the same category as the role of a person that created a matching component. 
     
     
         8 . One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of searching an electronic medical record for selected clinical concepts, the method comprising;
 receiving a search query from a user to search the electronic medical record that is associated with a patient and that includes a plurality of electronic documents that describe a medical history for the patient;   identifying one or more components of the electronic medical record that contain text with one or more words that matches the search query;   determining, for each clinical concept recited in the one or more components, a clinical-usage context that describes how the clinical concept was used in a component;   determining a query-responsiveness score using the clinical-usage context for each of the one or more components that match the search query, wherein the query-responsiveness score indicates how responsive an individual component is to the search query;   presenting search results that communicate information describing each of the one or more components displayed ordered according to the query-responsiveness score assigned to each of the one or more components.   
     
     
         9 . The media of  claim 8 , wherein the method further includes:
 determining a truth status for said each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, wherein the truth status indicates whether said each particular clinical concept was expressed positively, negatively, ambiguously, or unknown;   wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on the clinical-usage context and the truth status for said each of the one or more uses of the clinical concept.   
     
     
         10 . The media of  claim 9 , wherein the method further includes:
 determining, for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, a patient-subject status that indicates whether the patient is an object of a particular clinical concept recited in a particular component;   and   wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on the clinical-usage context, the truth status, and the patient-subject status for said each of the one or more uses of the clinical concept.   
     
     
         11 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the method further includes:
 determining a document-importance factor for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, wherein the document-importance factor measures a relevance of the particular clinical concept to a main subject of a particular document by analyzing other clinical concepts that are used in the particular document with the particular clinical concept;   determining a specificity factor for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components based on a degree of narrowness for a scope of said each particular clinical concept; and   wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on the clinical-usage context, the truth status, the patient-subject status, the document-importance factor, and the specificity factor for the particular use.   
     
     
         12 . The media of  claim 8 , wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on a boost factor, wherein the boost factor includes a role-boost factor that is based on a role of the user that submitted the search query and a role of a person associated with a use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record, and wherein the role-boost factor is increased when the role of the user is in the same category as the role of the person associated with a document within the electronic medical record that includes the use of the clinical concept from the search query. 
     
     
         13 . The media of  claim 8 , wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on at least one boost factor, wherein the at least one boost factor includes a clinical-facility-boost factor, wherein the clinical-facility-boost factor is based on a clinical facility associated with the user that submitted the search query and the clinical facility associated with a use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record, and wherein the clinical-facility-boost factor is increased for the use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record when the use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record is in a portion of the electronic medical record that is associated with the clinical facility from which the user submitted the search query. 
     
     
         14 . The media of  claim 8 , wherein the method further includes:
 expanding a clinical concept recited in the search query into additional related clinical concepts, thereby generating a plurality of expanded clinical concepts to match to each of the uses of the plurality of expanded clinical concepts within documents in the electronic medical record;   assigning a closeness-boost factor to each combination of an expanded-clinical concept and a matching use of the expanded-clinical concept within a document in the electronic medical record, wherein the closeness-boost factor is higher when the expanded-clinical concept is close to the clinical concept on a clinical-concept ontology and lower when the expanded-clinical concept is remote from the clinical concept; and   wherein the query-responsiveness score is also based on the closeness-boost factor.   
     
     
         15 . One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of preparing an electronic medical record for electronic searching, the method comprising:
 receiving a search query from a user to search the electronic medical record that is associated with a patient and that includes a plurality of electronic documents that describe a medical history for the patient;   identifying one or more components of the electronic medical record that contain text with one or more words that matches the search query;   determining, for each particular clinical concept recited in the one or more components, a specificity factor for the particular use of the clinical concept based on a degree of narrowness for a scope of the particular use of the clinical concept;   determining a query-responsiveness score using the specificity factor for each of the one or more components that match the search query, wherein the query-responsiveness score indicates how responsive an individual component is to the search query;   presenting search results that communicate information describing each of the one or more components displayed ordered according to the query-responsiveness score assigned to each of the one or more components.   
     
     
         16 . The media of  claim 15 , wherein the method further includes:
 for each of said clinical concepts, determining a document-importance factor for each of said clinical concepts, wherein the document-importance factor measures a relevance of a particular clinical concept to a main subject of a particular document by analyzing other clinical concepts that are used in the particular document with the particular clinical concept   wherein the query-responsiveness score for each use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record is also based on the document-importance factor for each use of the clinical concept.   
     
     
         17 . The media of  claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises, for each of the clinical concepts, determining a clinical-usage context for each use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record, wherein the clinical-usage context describes how the clinical concept was used in the electronic medical record,
 wherein the clinical-usage context includes one or more of a presenting complaints section, a patient history, a family history, a review of systems section, a physical exam record, a prescription, an order, a lab result, a vital sign, a diagnosis, and a procedure, and   wherein the query-responsiveness score for each use of the clinical concept in the electronic medical record is also based on the clinical-usage context for each use of the clinical concept.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the query-responsiveness score for an individual use of a clinical-concept is increased when the clinical-usage context for the individual use of the clinical concept directly relates to the patient. 
     
     
         19 . The media of  claim 15 , wherein the method further includes increasing the query-responsiveness score when a role of the user submitting the search query is in the same category as the role of a person that created a matching component. 
     
     
         20 . The media of  claim 19 , wherein the query-responsiveness score is based on a boost factor calculated based on one or more of:
 a hierarchical closeness of an expanded-clinical concept, wherein the boost factor is increased if the expanded-clinical concept is closely related to one or more clinical concepts within the search query based on a clinical-concept ontology;   a date of the matching document;   a document class for the matching document;   a primary focus of the matching document; and   a clinical facility associated with the matching document.