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2023-08-30
[Special Report] Korean Medicine Clinical Big Data Created by People From Around the World
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Korean Medicine Clinical Big Data Created by People From Around the World
Choi Seon-mi, Head of the Establishment Project for the Korean Medicine Clinical Big Data Center
We are living in a world where acupuncture therapies are carried out based on the diagnosis of Korean Medicine and medicines made of herbal preparations can be taken everywhere in the world. In the past, Korea compiled Korean Medicine to publish Uibangyuchwi (“Classified Collection of Medical Prescriptions”) and Donguibogam (“Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine”), thereby contributing to improving the quality of medical services greatly. Thanks to such effort, Korean Medicine has developed significantly and the people were able to enjoy its benefits.
Today, Korea is working hard to publish and distribute clinical practice guidelines to provide a medical service environment that will contribute to improving the quality of people’s lives. As we did in the past, the focus of such efforts is to distribute medical technologies based on “grounds,” which is accompanied by various activities to lay its foundation. For instance, the outcomes of clinical researches on the effectiveness, safety, and economic feasibility as well as basic researches to explore the mechanism of acupuncture and herbal therapies are published as theses. They are amassed as knowledge after systematic literature reviews and meta-analysis to be used as clinical practice guidelines. Clinical data is recorded in the paper chart in clinics where complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services are provided and in the digital chart where insurance benefits are provided around the globe.
Korean Medicine clinical data collected globally
Likewise, as people from around the world are given acupuncture and herbal therapies in real-world settings, relevant data are being gathered as well. In other words, medical professionals, patients, and the world as a whole are building Korean Medicine clinical data altogether. As the methods and formats of collected clinical data differ, however, we are still finding the best way to compile such data. Considering that clinical practice guidelines are used as grounds for medical practices regardless of countries, the real-world data obtained from clinics can be said as a repository of clinical data that can be transformed into knowledge and shared by people around the world.
Consequently, “clinical grounds” are required for global citizens who want to use Korean Medicine for the treatment and prevention of diseases. In other words, a sufficient amount of quality grounds should be secured to perform Korean Medicine around the globe. Securing clinical grounds on the effectiveness, safety, and economic feasibility is a mandatory requirement for developing a new treatment technology. It is also a prerequisite to disseminate and implement a new technology in the real world. The outcomes of new researches are mostly about clinical effectiveness on basic mechanisms conducted in restricted conditions, which is not suitable for medical professionals to use them in the real world. That is, they cannot use the outcomes due to lack of grounds. Therefore, it is important to collect clinical records to be used as grounds and create a medical culture to collect such records faithfully. And both medical staff and patients should work together to make this happen.
The future based on big data of Korean Medicine
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a framework to collect the real-world data to secure a sufficient amount of clinical grounds. EMR can also serve as a platform that spreads and distributes the collected clinical knowledge. Through the platform, data is collected and knowledge gained from the data analysis is spread to be used in the real world, which is gathered again to create a vicious circle; the amassed data finally become “big data.” Big data of Korean Medicine built through the process will further expedite the development of technologies for the treatment and prevention of diseases and health management as it combines with other big data of the world. That is the future we see as we collect Korean Medicine clinical data.
National Institute for Korean Medicine Development (NIKOM) is preparing to launch a Big Data Promotion Team to build a database of Korean Medicine clinical data and conducting an EMR development project as part of the plan. To this end, we adopted a series of global standards including Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine — Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), International Classification of Diseases (ICD), and Health Level Seven Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL-7 FHIR) to make them compatible with the Korea’s EMR and medical big data. The roles of EMR are not limited to provide medical records; it will also serve as a framework to collect clinical practice guidelines and their grounds provided by National Agency for Korean Medicine Innovative Technologies Development (IT-KoM), global research outcomes, as well as research platform available to create grounds for the real-world evidence of clinical technologies. Since it is possible to communicate with real-world Korean Medicine practices around the world as it follows the global standards, we firmly believe that we can join hands to create future technologies of Korean Medicine clinical big data of the 21st century together with both Korean Medicine professionals and users all over the world.
