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The Role of Diagnostic Uncertainty in Health Care Outcomes and its Potential for Modification with Decision Support

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Medical Informatics Europe 1991

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Medical Informatics ((LNMED,volume 45))

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Abstract

INTERNIST-1 and its successor Quick Medical Reference (QMR), are computer programs which utilize an extensive knowledge base of diseases in internal medicine to assist clinicians in the task of diagnosis. The provision of medical care, in general, and the utilization of the diagnostic laboratory, in particular, are known to exhibit wide variation among physicians. A neglected reason for some of this variation may be the degree of diagnostic uncertainty accompanying each patient case. We propose that computer programs like QMR may decrease some of this variability by providing more information to the physician, and we discuss a methodology for testing this proposal.

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bankowitz, R.A. (1991). The Role of Diagnostic Uncertainty in Health Care Outcomes and its Potential for Modification with Decision Support. In: Adlassnig, KP., Grabner, G., Bengtsson, S., Hansen, R. (eds) Medical Informatics Europe 1991. Lecture Notes in Medical Informatics, vol 45. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93503-9_71

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93503-9_71

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-54392-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-93503-9

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