Medical or health information search support apparatus and medical or health information search support system

1. A medical or health information search support apparatus comprising:

an input device to which a search keyword for searching for medical or health information of search target is inputted; processing circuitry configured to

search an administration information database that stores administration information by the search keyword, the administration information including respective prescription-treatments for respective patients, and each of the prescription-treatments being associated with a disease name for which the prescription-treatment was prescribed, and acquire related disease names for the search keyword based on a degree of relatedness between the disease names in the administration information, the degree of relatedness being obtained using a numerical difference between values of classification codes; and

search for medical or health information stored in a medical or health information database on the basis of the search keyword and a related disease name that is related to the search keyword based on the degree of relatedness; and

a display configured to display the medical or health information thus searched out, wherein,

the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a display level indicating a range of related disease names to be displayed by the display among the generated related disease names based on the degree of relatedness, the display level being selected from a first display level and a second display level, the first display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between a value of a classification code of the search keyword and respective values of classification codes of the related disease names are below a first threshold, and the second display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between the value of the classification code of the search keyword and the respective values of the classification codes of the related disease names are below a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold,

the display displays the acquired medical or health information of the related disease names as well as the medical or health information of the search keyword, and

when a disease name is input as the search keyword, the degree of relatedness used to determine the related disease name is based on a prescription-treatment of the related disease being substantially the same as the prescription treatment associated with the disease name inputted as the search keyword.

2. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to output, as search results, plural pieces of medical or health information containing the related disease name, related to the disease name contained in the medical or health information searched out based on the search keyword.

3. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the search keyword for searching for the medical or health information is any one of the disease name, the related disease name, and the prescription-treatment.

4. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the search keyword for searching for the medical or health information is any one of the disease name, the related disease name, and the prescription-treatment.

5. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the medical information searched out based on the disease name and the medical or health information searched out based on the related disease name are the same medical or health information, the processing circuitry deletes the medical or health information searched out based on the related disease name.

6. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the medical or health information database accessed by the processing circuitry stores therein a full text entered in an electronic medical record containing information on a patient and further stores therein an index used in searching for the medical or health information in association with a particular kind of information.

7. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the degree of relatedness of each related disease name with respect to the disease name inputted as the search keyword to generate related degrees,

sort the each related disease names in a display order on the basis of the generated related degrees, and

the medical or health information search support apparatus further comprises a disease name/classification code memory configured to store each disease name and a classification code for use to calculate the degree of relatedness, in association with each other.

8. The medical or health information search support apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate the degree of relatedness of the related disease name with a disease name inputted as the search keyword on the basis of a difference between the classification codes of the inputted disease name and related disease names stored in the disease name/classification code memory.

9. A medical or health information search support system comprising:

an administration information database in which administration information is stored, the administration information including respective prescription-treatments for respective patients, and each of the prescription-treatments being associated with a disease name for which the prescription-treatment was prescribed;

a medical or health information database in which medical or health information on the patient is stored; and

a medical or health information search support apparatus including:

an input device to which a search keyword for searching for medical or health information of search target is inputted,

processing circuitry configured to

search the administration information database by the search keyword, and acquire related disease names for the search keyword based on a degree of relatedness between the disease names in the administration information obtained using a numerical difference between values of the classification codes, and

search for medical or health information stored in the medical or health information database on the basis of the search keyword and a related disease name that is related to the search keyword based on the degree of relatedness, and

a display configured to display the medical or health information thus searched out, wherein

the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a display level indicating a range of related disease names to be displayed by the display among the generated related disease names based on the degree of relatedness, the display level being selected from a first display level and a second display level, the first display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between a value of a classification code of the search keyword and respective values of classification codes of the related disease names are below a first threshold, and the second display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between the value of the classification code of the search keyword and the respective values of the classification codes of the related disease names are below a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold,

the display displays the acquired medical or health information of the related disease names as well as the medical or health information of the search keyword, and

when a disease name is input as the search keyword, the degree of relatedness used to determine the related disease name is based on a prescription-treatment of the related disease being substantially the same as the prescription treatment associated with the disease name inputted as the search keyword.

10. The medical or health information search support system according to claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the degree of relatedness of each related disease name with respect to the disease name inputted as the search keyword to generate related degrees,

sort the related disease names in a display order on the basis of the generated related degrees, and

the medical or health information search support system further comprises a disease name/classification code memory configured to store each disease name and a classification code for use to calculate the degree of relatedness, in association with each other.

11. A medical or health information search support system, comprising:

an information terminal used by a person who refers to medical or health information, and at least including an input device and a display;

an administration information database in which administration information is stored, the administration information including respective prescription-treatments for respective patients, and each of the prescription-treatments being associated with a disease name for which the prescription-treatment was prescribed

a medical or health information database in which medical or health information on the patient is stored; and

a search server including processing circuitry configured to:

receive a search request for medical or health information of a search target from the information terminal,

search the administration information database by the search keyword, and acquire related disease names for the search keyword based on a degree of relatedness between the disease names in the administration information obtained using a numerical difference between values of the classification codes,

search for medical or health information stored in the medical or health information database on the basis of a search keyword of the received search request and the related disease name to obtain a searched-out medical or health information, and

transmit the searched-out medical or health information to the information terminal, wherein

the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a display level indicating a range of related disease names to be displayed by the display of the information terminal among the generated related disease names based on the degree of relatedness, the display level being selected from a first display level and a second display level, the first display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between a value of a classification code of the search keyword and respective values of classification codes of the related disease names are below a first threshold, and the second display level including the related disease names for which numerical differences between the value of the classification code of the search keyword and the respective values of the classification codes of the related disease names are below a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, and

the degree of relatedness used to determine the related disease name is based on a prescription-treatment of the related disease being substantially the same as the prescription treatment associated with the disease name inputted in the information terminal as part of the search request.

12. The medical or health information search support system according to claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate a respective degree of relatedness of each of a plurality of related disease names with respect to the disease name to generate related degrees; and

sort the plurality of related disease names in a display order on the basis of the related degrees, and

the medical or health information search support system further comprises a disease name/classification code memory configured to store each disease name and a classification code for use to calculate the degree of relatedness, in association with each other.

13. The medical or health information search support system according to claim 11 , wherein the search keyword is one or more of the disease name, the related disease name, and a prescription-treatment prescribed for the disease name.