Computer-Assisted Medical Decision Making: (Computers and Medicine)

Computer technology has impacted the practice of medicine in dramatic ways. Imaging techniques provide noninvasive tools which alter the diag- nostic process. Sophisticated monitoring equipment presents new levels of detail for both patient management and research. In most of these high technology applications, the computer is embedded in the device; its presence is transparent to the user. There is also a growing number of applications in which the health care provider directly interacts with a computer. In many cases, these appli- cations are limited to administrative functions, e.g., office practice man- agement, location of hospital patients, appointments, and scheduling. Nevertheless, there also are instances of patient care functions such as results reporting, decision support, surveillance, and reminders. This series, Computers and Medicine, will focus upon the direct use of information systems as it relates to the medical community. After twenty-five years of experimentation and experience, there are many tested applications which can be implemented economically using the current generation of computers. Moreover, the falling cost of computers suggests that there will be even more extensive use in the near future. Yet there is a gap between current practice and the state-of-the-art.

Table of Contents:
for Volume 2.- IV. Rule-Based Systems.- 15. Production Rules as a Representation for a Knowledge-Based Consultation Program.- 16. Problems in the Design of Knowledge Bases for Medical Consultation.- 17. A Production Rule System for Neurological Localization.- 18. Rule-Based Drug Prescribing Review: An Operational System.- 19. A Heuristic Approach to Risk Analysis in Computer-Assisted Medical Management.- V. Cognitive Models.- 20. Clinical Problem Solving: A Behavioral Analysis.- 21. Towards the Simulation of Clinical Cognition.- 22. INTERNIST-I, An Experimental Computer-Based Diagnostic Consultant for General Internal Medicine.- 23. Diagnostic Expert Systems Based on a Set Covering Model.- VI. Related Issues.- 24. The Evaluation of Clinical Predictions.- 25. Constructing an Expert Knowledge Base for Thyroid Consultation Using Generalized Artificial Intelligence Techniques.- 26. Towards an Intelligent Textbook of Neurology.- 27. Knowledge Structure Definition for an Expert System in Primary Medical Care.- 28. Studying Hypotheses on a Time-Oriented Clinical Database: An Overview of the RX Project.- 29. Explaining and Justifying Expert Consulting Programs.- 30. Causal Understanding of Patient Illness in Medical Diagnosis.