Extracting body function information using rule-based methods: Highlighting structure and formatting challenges in clinical text.

This paper describes the identification of body function (BF) mentions within the clinical text within a large, national, heterogeneous corpus to highlight structural challenges presented by the clinical text. BF in clinical documents provides information on dysfunction or impairments in the function or structure of organ systems or organs. BF mentions are embedded in highly formatted structures where the formats include implied scoping boundaries that confound existing natural language processing segmentation and document decomposition techniques.

Linking Free Text Documentation of Functioning and Disability to the ICF With Natural Language Processing.

Background: Invaluable information on patient functioning and the complex interactions that define it is recorded in free text portions of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Leveraging this information to improve clinical decision-making and conduct research requires natural language processing (NLP) technologies to identify and organize the information recorded in clinical documentation.

Methods: We used natural language processing methods to analyze information about patient functioning recorded in two collections of clinical documents pertaining to claims for federal disability benefits from the U.

A comprehensive study of mobility functioning information in clinical notes: Entity hierarchy, corpus annotation, and sequence labeling.

Background: Secondary use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has mostly focused on health conditions (diseases and drugs). Function is an important health indicator in addition to morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, function has been overlooked in accessing patients' health status.

Broadening horizons: the case for capturing function and the role of health informatics in its use.

Background: Human activity and the interaction between health conditions and activity is a critical part of understanding the overall function of individuals. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) models function as all aspects of an individual's interaction with the world, including organismal concepts such as individual body structures, functions, and pathologies, as well as the outcomes of the individual's interaction with their environment, referred to as activity and participation. Function, particularly activity and participation outcomes, is an important indicator of health at both the level of an individual and the population level, as it is highly correlated with quality of life and a critical component of identifying resource needs.