Logic of the Diagnostic Process^[*]

Research on the logic of the diagnostic process is proceeding in two main areas: (a) computer diagnosis and (b) studies of the human diagnostic judgment process. These two main areas of research are complementary because discovering functional relationships between signs, symptoms and diagnosis in a computer diagnoses study may give clues to better methods of human diagnosis. Greater understanding of the human diagnostic judgment process should enable the investigator to produce these processes more exactly on a computer.

Untersuchungen über die Logik des Vorganges der Diagnosebildung betreffen 2 Hauptgebiete: (a) die Computerdiagnose und (b) Studien über das Zustandekommen des diagnostischen Urteils beim Arzt. Diese beiden Forschungsgebiete ergänzen sich insofern, als einerseits das Auffinden funktioneller Beziehungen zwischen Krankheitszeichen, Symptomen und Diagnose bei der Computerdiagnose entscheidende Hinweise für bessere Methoden der menschlichen Diagnose liefern kann. Ein besseres Verständnis des diagnostischen Beurteilungsprozesses beim Menschen ermöglicht andererseits dem Forscher, diese Vorgänge genauer im Computer zu simulieren.

^* Paper presented at the 9. Annual Meeting of the »Arbeitsausschuß Medizin« in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Dokumentation, October 19-21, 1964, Bonn, Germany.

^** The work for this report was supported by NIH Grant No. FR 0016305, National Institutes of Health, Belhesda, Maryland. Publication No. 41 from Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, Beaverton, Oregon.

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