The role of expert system in nursing care and medicine

Posted: August 29th, 2013

Role of Expert System in Nursing Care and Medicine

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Role of Expert System in Nursing Care and Medicine

Medical departments in nursing and care have employed expert systems using computer applications for solving complicated problems (Brown, 2006). These problems would otherwise call for comprehensive expertise in human workforce. The system achieves this by stimulating the process of human reasoning by applying specified interfaces and knowledge. However, expert systems also employ human intelligence in solving problems that require human knowledge. These expert systems correspond to the expertise discernment as rules or data within the computer. Expert systems entail several numbers of components. The knowledge base, a component that contains the knowledge acquired from expert domain, where the basic way of representing the knowledge is by the use of rules. The inference engine, a component charged with the task of manipulating the information stored in the knowledge base, aimed at arriving at a result or solution for the problem in question. The other component is the user interface, which allows the user to post his or her problems to the system, and in turn receives solutions or results for those problems. A majority of the expert systems posses an explanation facility designed to explain to the user how it could conclude the result or the solution posted. Expert systems in the medical field nursing and care have therefore played a pivotal role that ensures accuracy and efficiency of its operations (Brown, 2006).

Since the early days, the eventual effect of the technological potential in medicine captivated both scientists and doctors. With the emergence of advanced computers, there was a perceived notion that technicians would tune them to assist or even surpass medical officials with tasks such as diagnosing and treatment propositions. Nevertheless, the deployment of expert systems in medicine has contributed to a fair share of encumbrances facing this discipline.

This has been through either by solving conundrums that are not plausible, or by downright imposing changes to the professional procedures highlighted in the medical discipline. The current expert system developers are facing problems of finding accurate ways of characterizing medical practice aspects best suited to the use of artificial intelligent systems. Indeed, when practitioners charge expert systems with an appropriate medical role, they ultimately offer benefits of significant relevance.

The main aim of expert systems development is serving the role of supporting medical workers in their normal day-to-day activities, and offering assistance in problems that depend on the manipulation of technical knowledge and data. Technicians program an expert system to work hand-in-hand with an electronic medical system giving alerts and signals when there is the detection of contraindication to the programmed treatment (Brown, 2006). This system also serves to alert the medical team when it detects a clinical data pattern that suggests a change in the patient’s condition. Together with tasks that need medical knowledge and reason, expert systems also play a different role in the processes of research in science. Expert systems also contain intelligence ability capable of learning, which consequently leads to discovering new phenomena together with the establishment of new medical knowledge. Whereas an existing source of medical knowledge suffices, an expert system plays a role of showing how new sets observations in experiments conflict with already existing medical phenomena.

In some cases in the medical field, medical practitioners attend to patients who present an ailment that proves to be very complex or even rare. This becomes an extremely daunting case for the medical team to diagnose. Expert systems intervene by posting a likely diagnosis, basing its results on the patient’s data (Hanson, 2004). These systems can also search for an inconsistency, an error or even an omission in a current treatment procedure. Technicians can use them in the formulation of a treatment model based on the condition of the patient, done in accordance with the accepted guidelines in treatment. Professionals refer to this as therapy analyzing and planning. In addition, technicians utilize expert systems as agents of information retrieval. They also program software systems to look for and retrieve data, say from the Internet, which they consider important to certain tasks. The report contains information and details of its users’ requests and needs, possessing medical knowledge making it able to assess the utility and relevance of the data it finds. Expert systems also play the role of image interpretation and recognition. Technicians use automated systems to interpret many medical images. These systems range from x-rays to other sophisticated modes such as angiograms and CT scans.

The world’s medical field is also endeavoring in utilizing other forms of technology in serving and managing its patients and clients (Hanson, 2004). One of the major breakthroughs in medical technology is Telehealth. This involves delivering services and health related information, as well as using telecommunications technologies. Telehealth may involve two or more medical practitioners discussing a patient over the phone. It may also be more complex as performing robotic surgery by surgeons stationed at different parts of the world. In the medical field, practitioners use Telehealth in transmitting medical pictures and images used for diagnosis. They also apply it in giving advice on disease prevention and good health promotion by monitoring and follow-up of the patient. Another form of technology that medical professionals use in patient management is the online patient management. This system enables doctors to stay in pace with the current condition of their patient. Medical practitioners encourage patients to update information on their current state in health and day-to-day experiences. This allows the doctor to analyze that information and provide an informed response in a timely manner. Mobile or wireless technology in patient management is also proving to be a major breakthrough. The prevailing use of mobile devices such as netbooks and smartphones has influenced the medical field coming from the need to have fast and accurate access to information concerning the patient. An increasing number of clinics, hospitals, and health offices are gradually recognizing the requirement of an accurate and effective solution of safely transmitting patient information, through inexpensive means (Hanson, 2004).

The current advancement and breakthroughs in technology ultimately have led to a more suitable, accurate, and effective medical environment. Information, procedures, treatments, and conclusion on patient illnesses and disorders are currently more accurate with minimal mistakes.