Towards a baseline ontology for information technology in rehabilitation medicine: the nomenclator of the rehabilitation procedures

One of the main aims of Healthcare Information Technology is the safe and efficient management of significant amounts of clinical data. Now more than ever, such goal requires the creation of common semantics to ontologically organize knowledge enclosed in databases. By means of the application of the WHO ICD-ICF frameworks, the ensemble of rehabilitative activities lead in all the Maugeri institutes in Italy, has been formally standardized to create a Nomenclator, with the aim to: a) support clinicians in the definition of the individualized Care Pathway; b) program, optimize and maximize patient's rehabilitation activities, according to clinical and organizational requirements; c) qualitatively and quantitatively report the daily health-care professionals' workflows; d) provide a structured and detailed medical record meeting appropriateness requirements. In this regard, the application of the ICD-ICF framework as a baseline ontology, paves the path to an ongoing tracking of the rehabilitation processes, leading to a more accurate description of patient's functioning profile. The upcoming challenge for rehabilitation is the ultimate overcoming of a solely epidemiological perspective, in order to embrace a holistic approach, fostered by ontologically-based information technologies.