Challenge3


 * Casey Kirton, Jessica Joseph, Mitchell Lovell**


 * Challenge 3 **
 * The hospital subscribes to an online medical expert system for use by its professional staff. However, a number of doctors have started to use the Internet search engines in order to diagnose patients, which has raised some concerns. How do medical expert systems work? How can their use be improved? What role can a campaign for improved information literacy play in meeting this challenge? How can internet sources be made more reliable? **

An expert system is [|software] that attempts to provide an answer to a problem, or clarify uncertainties where normally one or more human [|experts] would need to be consulted. Expert systems are most common in a specific [|problem domain], and is a traditional application and/or subfield of [|artificial intelligence]. Medical Expert Systems provide; precise, quick and inexpensive consultation with a restless, multipliable and alert consultant of minimum needs. Medical Expert Systems lead to less undiagnosed cases, lower iatrogenic disorders and more effective treatment i.e. Improved and cost-effective healthcare. They can also be used for effective education and training. For many problems like medicine if the task could be automated, or even if the expert could be given significant aid, the benefits would be large. The rapid growth of ever expanding detailed medical knowledge leave physicians without adequate time to study or train and does not let them to keep all the relevant information constantly in their minds. Then physicians’ memory and judgments should be aided.
 * How do medical expert systems work? **

The **advantages** of an expert system over a doctor are...
 * ...a large database of knowledge can be added to and kept up-to-date - it can store more knowledge than a person.
 * ...the system cannot 'forget' or get facts wrong.
 * ...it survives forever. There is no loss of knowledge as there is when a doctor retires.
 * ...the computer can access specialist knowledge that a doctor may not have.

Apart from expert medical systems, medical tasks by themselves are difficult. Uncertainty of available clinical data and reasoning is usual while the range of allowable errors is narrow. There are various ways in which a medical expert system can be improved. The cost effectiveness, improvement quality of medical care delivery, widespread access to Internet, and availability of computer systems are some of the areas that should be improved for better use of the medical expert systems by doctors.
 * How can their use be improved? **

Doctors should use reliable and certified information on the internet relating to information on medical diagnosis. By campaigning to encourage doctors to use medical expert systems rather than random information on the internet, better diagnosis can be made and concern will be decreased. Professionals should not have to resort to internet search engines to find information on patient diagnosis.
 * What role can a campaign for improved information literacy play in meeting this challenge?**

Internet sources should be monitored by highly trained physicians who have extensive knowledge on the information. They can make sure that the accurate information is posted and posted by a reliable source. Companies offering free information to doctors on the internet should show that the information is copyrighted and accurate. A consortium of trained physicians and trained IT professionals should be formed to monitor such information.
 * How can internet sources be made more reliable?**