the k4 , care european project proposes a standard model for home - care ( hc ) assistance of elderly chronic patients ( ecp ) , coordinating all professionals and institutions involved in hc for proper assistance . the model is supported by a distributed multi agent platform ( map ) , a metaphor of the hc itself . every person involved is represented by an intelligent agent interacting with other agents , representing other colleagues . warnings are sent to the corresponding agent when required by other agents for some action to complete a medical service . the actor profile ontology ( apo ) was build to determine the behaviour of map : the services to be provided have been specified by combinations of simpler actions ; liabilities , responsibilities and access rights of every kind of professional involved in hc is specified , as well as interaction between different professionals . a prototype is implemented where physicians , nurses , social workers , carers  coordinate through their personal agents for hc of ecp , according to apo . ontologies allow knowledge transmission to a computer application . apo provides high flexibility to mid and log - term evolution of hc , as changing it automatically changes the system behaviour . the basic structure of an ontology to support distributed medical complex systems is identified and this structure is easily exportable to other kind of medical systems , like hospital management or provision of dependency services .
introductionthe k4 , care european project proposes a standard model for home - care ( hc ) assistance of elderly chronic patients ( ecp ) , coordinating all professionals and institutions involved in hc for proper assistance . 
 the model is supported by a distributed multi agent platform ( map ) , a metaphor of the hc itself . every person involved is represented by an intelligent agent interacting with other agents , representing other colleagues . 
 warnings are sent to the corresponding agent when required by other agents for some action to complete a medical service . 
 correct transferring of the hc knowledge to the map is a key issue.methodsthe actor profile ontology ( apo ) was build to determine the behaviour of map : the services to be provided have been specified by combinations of simpler actions ; liabilities , responsibilities and access rights of every kind of professional involved in hc is specified , as well as interaction between different professionals . 
 agents are created according to apo definitions.resultsa prototype is implemented where physicians , nurses , social workers , carers  coordinate through their personal agents for hc of ecp , according to apo . 
 the platform is currently being tested with real patients in pollenza ( it).conclusionontologies allow knowledge transmission to a computer application . 
 apo provides high flexibility to mid and log - term evolution of hc , as changing it automatically changes the system behaviour . 
 the basic structure of an ontology to support distributed medical complex systems is identified and this structure is easily exportable to other kind of medical systems , like hospital management or provision of dependency services .