A diagnostic support system in general practice: Is it feasible?

Abstract

A medical diagnostic decision support system (DDSS) is developed for an in general practice. Two major issues are addressed: diagnostic support and usefulness. The diagnostic support pertains to the ability of the system to generate diagnostic hypotheses from a set of patient data. The usefulness is approach by creating a computer system with can be used simultaneously with the doctor-patient consultation. A test with the system in general practice reveals good performance of the system and an astonishing proficiency of the participating doctors in its use during consultation. Twenty doctors solved five patient cases, entering 2000 clinical items within acceptable limits of consultation time. Thus, a computer-aided DDSS in general practice appears to be feasible.