A system for the computer simulation of clinical reasoning

✍ Scribed by Fred Wiener

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Weight: 930 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-468X
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-468x(74)90009-9

✦ Synopsis

A system is presented for computer simulation of the logical processes used by the physician in clinical medicine. The medical logic in a given area is formulated in modular fashion, where each module states the inference to be drawn and the clinical data on which the inference is based. The complex reasoning in diagnosis or therapy is reduced to a series of logical inferences each of which depends on a small number of clinical findings. Since all findings will not necessarily be present in each patient, the Boolean subsets of the findings sufficient for confirming the inference axe expressed by threshold logic. A numerical weight is assigned to each finding such that the sufficient subsets will have a total score exceeding a preset threshold. The system programs axe: EDIT, to convert the physician formulated medical logic modules into appropriate computer files; LIST, to aid in correcting and standardizing the medical terminology; QUERY, to allow on-line entry of patient data; and TEST, to analyze the patient data and report the patient's status.

Clinical inferences Computer diagnosis Threshold logic Boolean combinations

Diagnostic logic Patient data