Approaches to the digitization of clinical guidelines

Objective. To develop the best approach to digitizing clinical guidelines in the Russian Federation. Material and methods. An analytical study was conducted at the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center for Oncology of the Ministry of Health of Russia using the clinical guidelines “Ovarian cancer/fallopian tube cancer/primary peritoneal cancer.” The methods of flowcharts and notation Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 were used to describe the algorithms and processes. Results. During the digitization, algorithms for treating patients were created with triggers, logical gateways, tasks, and threads. Two documents were obtained: a graphical version of the process display and a machine-readable description of the process in XML format, which can be used in medical information systems. Conclusion. A methodology based on the coding of specific medical services, drug treatment regimens, and surgical interventions is proposed to digitize clinical guidelines, ensure a full-fledged representation of the patient management algorithm, and use it in medical information systems. Further development of the methodology should aim to use universal markup languag-es and develop tools convenient for doctors to use. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.