Challenges in adapting existing clinical natural language processing systems to multiple, diverse health care settings.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Widespread application of clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems requires taking existing NLP systems and adapting them to diverse and heterogeneous settings. We describe the challenges faced and lessons learned in adapting an existing NLP system for measuring colonoscopy quality.

Materials and methods

Colonoscopy and pathology reports from 4 settings during 2013-2015, varying by geographic location, practice type, compensation structure, and electronic health record.

Results

Though successful, adaptation required considerably more time and effort than anticipated. Typical NLP challenges in assembling corpora, diverse report structures, and idiosyncratic linguistic content were greatly magnified.

Discussion

Strategies for addressing adapta

SUBMITTER: Carrell DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6080843 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature