October 10, 2007

Physicians gain help with diagnosis through computer technology.

BY Dr. Keith J. Kaplan

USA Today (9/6, Donaghue) reports that "a 2003 Journal of the American Medical Association review of autopsy studies" found that "doctors misdiagnose 8 percent to 24 percent of the time." To combat this problem, some are turning to technology. "Doctors are increasingly using the Internet, even search programs as basic as Google, when they’re stumped, according to ‘Googling for a Diagnosis,’ a British Medical Journal study last year." Others turn to computerized tools like Isabel, currently found in 18 hospitals, with a pricetag of about $750. The tool allows physicians to put a list of the patient’s symptoms into the system, and then "generates a list of possible diagnoses." Another technology, "Problem Knowledge Couplers — a technology that ‘couples’ patient symptoms with relevant medical literature," allows patients to "enter their symptom information into the Web-based tool and walk through the medical knowledge with their doctor."

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Comments (1)

  1. Emmanuel Maicas

    May I add to your list a few web-based interactive databases built by Pathologists. Dr Friesman’s ImmunoQuery is the best known. Dermwiz, my own creation, requires some learning but is useful when facing a skin biopsy.
    I hope to see the day when all textbooks will be replaced by interactive databases linked with online texts. Once familiar with the medium, the delay between a question and its answer is immensely shorter than with a typical two-volumes textbook. And the information is instantly updatable by the authors.

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