scope:

This document specifies a set of representational primitives and semantic relations required for an unambiguous representation of explicit time-related expressions in health informatics. This Standard does not introduce or force a specific ontology of time, nor does it force the use of a fixed representation scheme for such an ontology. Rather this Standard provides a set of principles for syntactic and semantic represent ation that allow the comparability of specific ontologies on time, and the exchange of time-related information that is expressed explicitly. This European Standard is applicable to 1) developers of medical information systems in which the need is felt to have explicit time-related concepts for internal organization (e.g. temporal data bases, temporal reasoning systems), 2) in formation modellers or knowledge engineers building models for the systems mentioned in (1), 3) experts involved in the development of semantic standards on precise subdomains in health care where time-related information need to be covered, (e.g. in the study of Pathochronology, i.e. the discipline dealing with the time course of specific diseases) 4) developers of interchange formats for messages in which time-related information is embedded. This European Standard is not intended to be used directly for: 1) representing what is true in time 2) reas oning about time representation of metrological time (which is covered in other standards).