Decision Support Based on Laboratory Data

Abstract

SummaryMedical 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.