title: Verifying a medical protocol with temporal graphs: the case of a nosocomial disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our contribution focuses on the implementation of a formal verification approach for medical protocols with graphical temporal reasoning paths to facilitate the understanding of verification steps.
  
  
  METHODS
  Formal medical guideline specifications and background knowledge are represented through conceptual graphs, and reasoning is based on graph homomorphism. These materials explain the underlying principles or rationale that guide the functioning of verifications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An illustration of this proposal is made using a medical protocol defining guidelines for the monitoring and prevention of nosocomial infections. Such infections, which are acquired in the hospital, increase morbidity and mortality and add noticeably to economic burden. An evaluation of the use of the graphical verification found that this method aids in the improvement of both clinical knowledge and the quality of actions made.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As conceptual graphs, representations based on diagrams can be translated into computational tree logic. However, diagrams are much more natural and explicitly human, emphasizing a theoretical and practical consistency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed approach allows for the visual modeling of temporal reasoning and a formalization of knowledge that can assist in the diagnosis and treatment of nosocomial infections and some clinical problems. This is the first time that one emphasizes the temporal situation modeling in conceptual graphs. It will also deliver a formal verification method for clinical guideline analyses.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Production Engineering (LGP), EA 1905, ENIT-INPT University of Toulouse, 47 Avenue d'Azereix, BP 1629, 65016, Tarbes Cedex, France. Electronic address: Bernard.Kamsu-Foguem@enit.fr.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kamsu-Foguem
authors.affiliation: MAT Laboratory, UMI 209, Unit for Mathematical and Computer Modeling of Complex Systems - UMMISCO, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
authors.forename: Germaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tchuenté-Foguem
authors.affiliation: Center for Food and Taste sciences (CSGA)-UMR 6265 CNRS-UMR 1324 INRA-University of Burgundy, Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Clovis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Foguem
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000150:complications; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011340:Problem Solving
keywords: Conceptual graphs; Medical protocol; Model checking; Nosocomial diseases; Visual information