Methods Inf Med 1988; 27(04): 187-190
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1635535
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

Decision Support Based on Laboratory Data

Entscheidungsunterstützung auf der Grundlage von Laboratoriumsdaten
Rory R. O’Moore
*   Department of Biochemistry, Central Pathology Laboratory, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
16 February 2018 (online)

Summary

Medical decision support systems dealing with multiple diseases are presently in a phase of development or revision and, in the immediate future, are likely to be utilized only as part of ongoing research projects or in the field of medical education. Those decision support systems (DSS) which are in routine use have one major factor in common. They are applied in a single narrow domain or series of overlapping narrow domains. Blois and Wagner predicted this, suggesting that computer-based medical decision aids were inherently limited in their ability to assist clinicians in reaching decisions about undifferentiated patients, i. e., those for whom an initial high level general classification had not already been made. To be useful, the domain should be narrowed by the clinical acumen of the physician. A thoughtful working diagnosis on a laboratory request form provides a good example of this process.

Medizinische Systeme zur Entscheidungsunterstützung, bei denen es um verschiedene Krankheiten geht, befinden sich gegenwärtig in einer Entwicklungs-oder Revisionsphase, und es ist wahrscheinlich, daß sie in naher Zukunft lediglich als Teil laufender Forschungsprojekte oder auf dem Gebiet der medizinischen Ausbildung Anwendung finden werden. Diejenigen Systeme zur Entscheidungsunterstützung, die in Routine benutzt werden, haben einen bedeutenden Faktor gemeinsam: Sie werden in einem einzigen engen Bereich oder einer Reihe sich überschneidender enger Bereiche angewandt. Blois und Wagner haben dies vorhergesagt und angedeutet, daß der Fähigkeit computergestützter medizinischer Entscheidungshilfen, Klinikern in ihrer Entscheidungsfindung bei »undifferenzierten« Patienten, d. h. bei solchen, bei denen eine allgemeine Klassifikation auf hoher Ebene nicht von Anfang an bereits vorgenommen worden war, behilflich zu sein, von ihrer Natur her Grenzen gesetzt sind. Um nützlich zu sein, sollte der Bereich durch die klinische Entscheidungsfähigkeit des Arztes eingeengt werden. Eine durchdachte Arbeitsdiagnose auf einem Auftragsformular für das Laboratorium liefert ein gutes Beispiel für diesen Prozeß.

 
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