Title: DIMITRA: an online expert system for carers of paraplegics and quadriplegics

Authors: Maria Athanasiou, Jonathan Y. Clark

Addresses: Department of Computing, School of Electronics and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK. ' Department of Computing, School of Electronics and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK

Abstract: During the last three decades, the area of expert systems has attracted enormous research interest, and a multitude of systems, tackling all kinds of applications, have been designed and implemented. An area where expert systems have been extensively applied is medical care; however, despite the very large number of systems implemented, no system for the special care required for wheelchair users with spinal injury has been developed. The purpose of this report is to present the design and implementation methodology of the DIMITRA expert system, an online consultation system under development for the special caring procedure of such patients. This system is considered to be of value for virtual healthcare in the home, because it is designed for remote access by carers and their patients.

Keywords: expert systems; online consultation; Apache; PHP; paraplegics; quadriplegics; tetraplegics; carers; wheelchair users; spinal injury; CLIPS; virtual primary healthcare; healthcare technology; e-healthcare; electronic healthcare; virtual healthcare.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2006.008431

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.7 No.5, pp.440 - 451

Published online: 20 Dec 2005 *

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