Summary
Background:
Diagnosis and management of dementia is a complex process and primary care physicians
are under-equipped to deal with uncertainties in the provision of optimal care for
the patient.
Objective:
To develop a computer decision support system (CDSS) which could assist physicians
with diagnosis and management and improve patient care.
Methods:
A design group including general practitioners derived logic pathways for diagnosis
and management of dementia and validated them with a multi-professional expert group.
Logic pathways were used to construct a comprehensive CDSS rendered as a series of
expert consultations. The CDSS was inserted into commercially available GP systems
and bench and field-tested.
Results:
The complexity of dementia diagnosis and management can be captured in logic pathways
which can be expressed as decision trees within existing electronic patient records.
The resulting CDSS appears useable in routine practice.
Conclusion:
The impact of this CDSS will be evaluated in a randomised controlled trial of educational
interventions in primary care.
Keywords
Computer-assisted decision support - dementia - primary care - diagnosis - case management
