Title: Diabetic foot advisor: an empirical investigation using expert system

Authors: Elias M. Awad, M. David Tremaine

Addresses: McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA. Anderson Clinic, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Abstract: Medicare in the US is becoming an issue in terms of coverage. The federal government|s attempt at downsizing and combating budget deficit shows a trend that points to patients absorbing more and more of the initial cost of medical treatment. The goal of this research is twofold: to explore the depth of the domain in a complex area of medical diagnosis and build a prototype expert system to address a focused aspect of the domain. The problem domain of this research is the diabetic foot - a serious area among diabetics, controlled by self-help, medical treatment, or surgery. The goal of the expert system is to advise the diabetic user on the status of their feet and the alternatives available for proper and prompt care. In preparation for the programming phase of the diabetic expert system advisor, medical sources were used to learn about diabetes, diabetic foot diseases and deformities, followed by a series of interviews with an orthopaedic surgeon as the domain expert. The prototype was fully tested and provided the basis for a more comprehensive system using multiple domain experts.

Keywords: problem domain; expert system; diabetes; EXSYS; heuristics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2000.001067

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2000 Vol.2 No.1/2/3/4, pp.106-118

Published online: 30 Jun 2003 *

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