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Medical Glossary of signs & symptoms

The medical glossary of signs & symptoms will not do a doctor's job for them, but assist in diognoses with certain cases.
 
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This is not a medical dictionary; and neither will it take over from a doctor doing their job. Simply, it would assist them in unusual cases, or in cases where the signs and symptoms aren't as common as the usual ones.

A medical dictionary gives meanings of common medical terms, abbreviations, and medical names etc, whereas the glossary works like this:

In a similar searching format to I-tunes, where every letter you type narrows down your search. This format allows for mistakes in spelling etc. Using a simpler search requires the whole word to be searched and for no results to show up if a grammatical error has occurred.

1.A DOCTOR types in a sign or symptom. Eg; He/She types in 'Pins' it comes up with: Pins & needles (of the head) Pins & needles (of the hands) Pins & needles (of the feet) ETC.

2. He/She selects one or more of the symptoms and drags it into the patients file. (The DR creates a file for the patient which lasts approx 1 month before self-deletion, it takes up too much room to keep all the files, and once the doc has had assistance with diagnoses he can move on to the treatment etc). These files can be saved at another location, for example under the Patient’s actual file at their chosen medical centre.

3. Step 3 is when most signs and symptoms have been collected into the patient's file. The DOC then clicks open the file. There are two columns in a window. LEFT COL: "Signs & Symptoms collected" RIGHT COL: Possible Diagnosis'

Out of these possible diagnoses, the doctor may wipe some out by simply un-ticking the box. He may wipe them out because out of his knowledge he sees the diagnoses may not be possible, (eg: Pins & Needles = Broken Arm, But no Pain in Arm etc) or by going through possibilities and asking the patient about further symptoms that they haven't mentioned.

Obviously, this program isn't needed in every case. Not for a simple cold, or an infection etc, the doctor’s still need to do their jobs’. It's for those times when a doctor is unsure, and doesn't want to let the patient know - so without the dangerous science of guessing and misdiagnosis, here at DR’s service is the “Medical Glossary of Signs and Symptoms VOL 1”.

Of course this needs work, but that’s what i've come up with so far. Very welcome to suggestions, not keen on rudeness or meanness - i don’t likey :(

NB* "patient files" on the right of the picture would obviously be in alphabetically order, and most probably just be the most recent files used. Maybe about 10 or 20 could be shown...

LAST THING: Learning is often not from being taught - by using this program. Imagine how much one could learn!

ashmichelle02, Feb 16 2009

MY DRAWING OF THE PROGRAM http://i186.photobu...8/barberco/MGS2.jpg
MY PIC OF GLOSSARY [ashmichelle02, Feb 16 2009]

http://easydiagnosis.com/ An example of a real existing expert system. [jutta, Feb 16 2009]

Wikipedia: MYCIN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycin
An old (70ies) academic medical expert system that specialized on diagnosing bacterial blood infections. [jutta, Feb 16 2009]

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       sp. "diagnoses".

//I’ve copied I-tunes just so everyone can get an idea//
I've never used iTunes (or I-tunes, for that matter).
coprocephalous, Feb 16 2009
  

       Google "Expert systems" - that's the general term for the type of thing you are describing.
zen_tom, Feb 16 2009
  

       //I've never used iTunes (or I-tunes, for that matter).// im sorry that my way of spelling itunes is the wrong way. . . that wasnt very nice of you.   

       and if you havnt used itunes then i went to the trouble of POSTING A PICTURE FOR YOU
ashmichelle02, Feb 16 2009
  

       // im... that wasnt very nice of you//
sp. "I'm", "wasn't", "haven't".
//Learning is often not from being taught - by using this program.// What does this sentence mean, please?
coprocephalous, Feb 16 2009
  

       there are some online docs that are expert systems in this regard. google: online diagnosis
loonquawl, Feb 16 2009
  

       My guess is that, in non-trivial medical cases, good, experienced doctors acquire the skill of getting accurate descriptions of symptoms from patients and judging which of the various symtoms are the ones to concentrate on. Then, as others have said "Expert Systems" do roughly what you said in your idea - although they've been around for at least 25 years now and haven't really taken off commercially in a big way.   

       Also, welcome to the Halfbakery! - people here are picky about spelling and grammar. This improves the quality of communication, but can also be annoying. It's not going to change though. As for the idea, mostly you've written about the user interface, which is the least important part and this makes it hard to work out what the core idea really is.
hippo, Feb 16 2009
  

       I've seen similar things. I don't know if they're subtle enough to work. I would say a rapport is important and i'm wondering if you're thinking they should do this in the patient's presence or afterwards. If the former, i wouldn't approve because it involves a number of no-nos: breaking eye contact with the patient, switching attention from the patient to the means of accessing the information and maybe creating a physical barrier between the patient and doctor. On the other hand, if it's done without the patient's presence, it would be better. I did consider getting some information together to do this at some point, but since i know nothing of IT, i couldn't do it.   

       Having said all that, it doesn't seem like a particularly new idea. I remember something to that effect on 'Tomorrow's World' almost forty years ago.   

       Incidentally, i'm deeply impressed by your illustration. I wish i was competent enough to produce something that good.
nineteenthly, Feb 16 2009
  

       You'll have to excuse [coprocephalous]. He was a teacher in the sixties you see, but he got tormented by his students on account of him being unable to keep order, to such an extent that eventually the Men in White had to take him away.   

       He is allowed limited internet acces now, under supervision, ever since they put him on dried frog pills. We keep him around here as an oddity and even make the occasional spelling error or gramatical faux pas, just to give him something to do.   

       Good idea, so good they seem to already do it. Nice pic.
zeno, Feb 16 2009
  


 

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