A Cross-Language Mobile Resource for Accessing MEDLINE/PubMed Based on an Open- Source, Crowdsourced Controlled Medical Vocabulary for the Philippines

Using a standardized set of medical terminologies can help organize EMR content and facilitate patient care, follow-up and documentation in countries with many official languages. A controlled medical vocabulary of clinical terms from patient-provider encounters was developed from submissions of members of the medical community in the Philippines. Crowdsourcing may be useful for building standardized medical terminologies. It also increases awareness on MeSH, SNOMED CT and the UMLS. Introduction There is a need for a standardized set of medical terminologies to avoid loss of translational integrity of the chief complaint. A controlled medical vocabulary will be useful for a country like the Philippines which has eight major languages. Using the patient's exact words of the chief complaint is crucial since it often leads to a diagnosis. This study describes the development of a cross-language tool in the Philippines using mobile devices.