Use of a computerized clinical decision system in a diabetic clinic

Abstract

The application of the computer to the process of medical decision making has been slow in contrast to the relative successes pertaining to medical records, pharmacy, epidemiology, and various aspects of a hospital information system (1). The process of medical decision broadly encompasses first the collection of data, secondly, the processing of the data to arrive at a diagnosis and finally, the prescription of a plan of action designed to correct the problem. In practice these steps are often telescoped and tend more to approximate a guidance system in which data collection serves as a continuous feedback for modification of diagnosis and an evolving plan of action based on the outcome of previous actions. This process is best termed medical management, the central theme of which is the patient problem as emphasized by Weed (2,3).