Referent tracking and its applications

Referent tracking (RT) is a new paradigm, based on unique identification, for representing and keeping track of particulars. It was first introduced to support the entry and retrieval of data in electronic health records (EHRs). Its purpose is to avoid the ambiguity that arises when statements in an EHR refer to lesions, disorders, and other entities on the side of the patient exclusively by means of compound descriptions utilizing general tenns such as 'pimple on nose" or 'small left breast tumor'. In this paper, we describe the theoretical foundations of the RT paradigm and show how it is being applied to the solution of problems of ambiguous identification in the fields of digital rights management, corporate memories and decision algorithms.