Summary
Objectives: A computer-based system has been developed for the generation of medical expert opinions
on the insulin-resistance syndrome, based on clinical data obtained from primary care
physicians.
Methods: An expert opinion for each patient was generated by using a decision tree for entering
individual text modules and by adding optional free text. The expert opinions were
returned by e-mail, telefax or by ordinary mail.
Results: 1389 primary care physician sent anonymous data sets and requested expert opinions
for a total of 3768 patients. Through the set up of a rule-based system an automation
of the generation of the expert opinions could be achieved and the generation time
dropped from initially 40 minutes to less than 5 minutes at the end.
Conclusions: By using predefined text modules and a rule based system, a large number of medical
expert opinions can be generated with relatively few additional resources.
Keywords
Expert opinion - critiquing system - consultation system - diabetes mellitus - disease
management - decision support
