From bedside to bench: A translational metamodel for hospital information systems in academic medical centers.

To conduct clinical research, data are needed from the clinical routine. Due to the complexity of today's Healthcare Information Systems (HIS), clinical researchers oftentimes struggle finding relevant information. As part of the reengineering efforts of the clinical data warehouse towards a translational enterprise data warehouse, a general methodology is developed to describe the complexity of current HIS in all domains, to guide researchers with a clinical questions to the dta they need, and thus to increase accessibility of clinical data for research. An information-requirements analysis was conducted with clinical researchers and data warehouse experts in the domain of pharmacy as groundwork for a new translational meta-model. The results of this analysis were used adapt the strategic HIS management meta-model 3LGM2 and to implement it into the domain of pharmacy. The new translational meta-model consists of a domain-, a logical tool-, and a data description-layer with interlayer relationships. Two further layers, added in a perpendicular way give information about access and quality. This meta-model is implemented as a Web-based solution, providing modeling and browsing functionality. The presented translation meta-data solution shows a promising approach to the problem of clinical data access in research. Further research in needed to prove its applicability and usefulness in the daily routine.