Codifying the Knowledge-Base of Expert Practice

Abstract

A patient’s presentation to a doctor would ideally lead to the same, maximally expert diagnosis, and prognosis (intervention-dependent), regardless of who the doctor is. This ideal can materialize if, and only if, the requisite knowledge of top experts on the topics has been suitably codified in cyberspace, for retrieval as needed in the course of practice. Toward this ideal, the first need is to understand how expert clinicians’ tacit knowledge, relevant to diagnosis and prognosis, can be garnered in the appropriate form. The way this can be done has recently been described and illustrated. Thus, the theoretical basis for bringing about uniform, universally expert practice is now in place. It only needs to be translated into action, so that such practice gets to supersede the subjectivist dilettantism of EBM.