An intelligent partner system for improving chronic illness care

Abstract

Chronic care consists of a sequence of actions to treat a specific clinical disorder over time as a function of the ways in which illness progresses and patients respond to management actions. Outcomes depend on physicians' skills to select the actions best suited for their patients and competent self-management. This paper presents the architecture of an intelligent partner system (IPS), which helps to provide doctors with relevant data and skills and empowers chronically ill patients with the information and confidence to manage their health wisely. The services of this intelligent system are presented as 'therapies' for the information-processing 'pathologies' associated with traditional chronic illness care. © 2003 PHCSG, British Computer Society.