Clinical records anonymisation and text extraction (CRATE): an open-source software system

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

Software Review

Rudolf N. Cardinal¹ 

[1] Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Sir William Hardy Building, Downing Site, CB2 3EB, Cambridge, UK;Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liaison Psychiatry Service, Box 190, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0QQ, Cambridge, UK;

关键词: Anonymisation;    De-identification;    Clinical informatics;    Electronic medical records;    Open-source software;    Pseudonymisation;    Psychiatry;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12911-017-0437-1

 received in 2016-07-06, accepted in 2017-03-30,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundElectronic medical records contain information of value for research, but contain identifiable and often highly sensitive confidential information. Patient-identifiable information cannot in general be shared outside clinical care teams without explicit consent, but anonymisation/de-identification allows research uses of clinical data without explicit consent.ResultsThis article presents CRATE (Clinical Records Anonymisation and Text Extraction), an open-source software system with separable functions: (1) it anonymises or de-identifies arbitrary relational databases, with sensitivity and precision similar to previous comparable systems; (2) it uses public secure cryptographic methods to map patient identifiers to research identifiers (pseudonyms); (3) it connects relational databases to external tools for natural language processing; (4) it provides a web front end for research and administrative functions; and (5) it supports a specific model through which patients may consent to be contacted about research.ConclusionsCreation and management of a research database from sensitive clinical records with secure pseudonym generation, full-text indexing, and a consent-to-contact process is possible and practical using entirely free and open-source software.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017