Incorporation of the Arden Syntax within the reimplementation of a closed-loop decision support system

The initial implementation of a clinical decision support system, although extremely successful and popular with users, suffered from response time and operational support difficulties. As part of the redesign of the system, which uses closed-loop rules to propose laboratory and other investigations, the decision was taken to move to Arden Syntax for the expression of such rules, although in some areas the current standard was felt to be either inadequate or inelegant. Such limitations have been overcome by the development of local extensions to the Arden Syntax, which are described and where appropriate proposed as possible enhancements of the standard. The use of common UNIX tools in the creation of a compiler which converts Arden Medical Logic Modules to M (MUMPS) code is also discussed.