Fuzzy cognitive map decision support system for successful triage to reduce unnecessary emergency room admissions for the elderly

Abstract

This work presents a Fuzzy Cognitive Map Medical Decision Support System (FCM-MDSS) for the hospital admission procedure of elderly patients. The FCMMDSS is applied to the Emergency Department (ED), where elderly patients arrive requesting medical assistance. Here a new hybrid methodology is introduced to develop FCM-MDSS exploiting human experience and accompanied by available bibliographic information. It is based on the widely applied Triage complex decision-making process and the generally accepted procedures while trying to minimize unnecessary admissions as well as over/under-triaging. The FCM-MDSS is evaluated for known cases of real patients arriving at the ED from the literature. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.