Teaching Arden Syntax using a simulated environment.

The Arden Syntax is a simple syntax that allows physicians to encode medical knowledge in small modules, called medical logic modules (MLM). These MLM are well suited to data-driven alerts and reminders. While the Arden syntax is simple to teach, the students are most of the time limited to the writing of modules and the verification of the module's syntax. Our work proposes an environment that simulates various elements required by MLMs, allowing the students to execute the MLMs they have written immediately. This provides the necessary feedback to understand in depth the inner workings of MLMs.