On conceptualization of a decision support system in health informatics

A decision support system can be approached from two major disciplinary perspectives, those of information systems science (IS) and artificial intelligence (AI). We present in this study an extended ontology for a decision support system in health informatics, which is founded on experience from related research fields as well as being informed by our case studies. The ontology emphasises the need to cover environmental and contextual variables as an integral part of a decision support systems development methodology. With the addition of these variables, the focus in decision support systems development shifts from a task ontology towards a domain ontology. The results of this study help the system developers to take the system's context into account through the set of defined variables that are linked to the application domain. These variables explicate relevant constructs and present a vocabulary for a decision support system. However, applying the ontology requires a more thorough analysis of the domain and therefore more qualified resources for systems development. This indicates the need to focus more on education and training in health informatics.