The BRIDG model, while a valuable historical resource, is no longer actively maintained. Access to this information is provided for reference purposes, acknowledging its past contributions to the field. Please note that the information may not reflect the most current standards or practices, and users are encouraged to consider this context when reviewing and using the materials presented here.
The goal of the BRIDG Project is to produce a shared view of the semantics of a common domain-of-interest, specifically the domain of basic, pre-clinical, clinical, and translational research and its associated regulatory artifacts.
The mission of BRIDG is to enable computable semantic interoperability (CSI), the ability for information systems to exchange, at a machine-to-machine level, the meaning (rather than simply the structure) of data and/or to effectively combine functionality across machine/system boundaries. A shared semantic view is essential if the clinical research community, both for itself and also as part of the larger healthcare and life sciences communities, is to achieve CSI in the various data interchanges and application interactions between systems.
This shared view can be used to:
In BRIDG, this shared view is expressed as a collection of visual diagrams using the iconography and grammar of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). This set of visual diagrams plus the underlying relationships, definitions, explanations, and examples are collectively referred to as the BRIDG Model. For a short introduction to UML, please see the BRIDG User Guide that is published with each release of the model.
BRIDG can be used as a source for clinical research data semantics and/or a foundation model to develop a consistent set of concepts representing the domain of translational research, to facilitate semantic agreement between different stakeholders in a joint project, to validate requirements for a system so that subject matter experts, analysts and implementers share a common view, to communicate ideas clearly about function and data use.
As a data integration or mapping solution, BRIDG can serve as the hub, where many different standards or models, the spokes, are mapped to a single point (BRIDG, the hub) and can be translated into any of the other spokes without having to do many different point to point mappings. Such a solution is also extensible in that new BRIDG-based mappings can be added as time goes on without having to redo a myriad of additional point to point mappings.
At the transactional level or at a data set level, BRIDG can be used as a data exchange format, where subsets of BRIDG classes representing related concepts are exchanged in XSD/XML format.
As a conceptual model, BRIDG can be used to create logical and physical database models in support of clinical research software solutions. Numerous institutions, including NMDP, Thomas Jefferson University, a large CRO, FDA, and others have used this approach both at the prototype and production levels.
As a network of well-defined terms, BRIDG can serve as a resource for developing a clinical or translational research ontology. Many of BRIDG’s robust definitions have previously been converted into an OWL representation on a few occasions, subsequently bringing to light issues that have been addressed to make the UML model more consistent.
BRIDG: a domain information model for translational and clinical protocol-driven research. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), 26 Feb. 2017, Lauren B Becnel, Smita Hastak, Wendy Ver Hoef, Robert P Milius, MaryAnn Slack, Diane Wold, Michael L Glickman, Boris Brodsky, Charles Jaffe, Rebecca Kush, and Edward Helton
Current applications and future directions for the CDISC Operational Data Model standard: A methodological review. Journal of the Biomedical Informatics, Apr. 2016, Same Hume, Jozef Aerts, Surendra Sarnikar, and Vojtech Huser
Introduction into CDISC BRIDG. PhUSE Annual Conference, Oct. 2015, Jorg Dillert
Extending the Bridg Model with Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Concepts. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Feb. 2014, Jane Pollack, Kirt Schaper, Robinette Renner, Charles Martinez, Sandra Sorensen, Bob Milius, Colleen O’Neill, Roy B Jones, and J. Douglass Rizzo
Providing Semantic Interoperability Between Clinical Care and Clinical Research Domains IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Mar. 2013, Gokce Banu Laleci, Mustafa Yuksel, and Asuman Dogac
The BRIDG project: a technical report Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), Mar. 2008, Douglas B Fridsma, Julie Evans, Smita Hastak, Charles N Mead